Cyclone Fengal: IMD says landfall near Puducherry started, to take 4 hours to fully cross coast 

Cyclone Fengal has started its landfall near Puducherry, with the process expected to take approximately four hours to complete, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest update.

S Balachandran, Additional Director General of the IMD-Regional Meteorological Centre, said that the landfall process began around 5:30 pm on November 30. He confirmed that the storm is making landfall near the Puducherry area and will take about four hours to fully cross the coast. He added that further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

In a 7:35 pm update, the IMD reported that the forward sector of the cyclone's spiral bands has already moved inland. The storm is forecast to continue moving west-southwest, crossing the northern Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram, near Puducherry, with wind speeds of 70-80 km/h, gusting up to 90 km/h, over the next 3 to 4 hours.

At the time of the update, the storm was located about 40 km off the coast, 50 km south-southeast of Mahabalipuram, 60 km east-northeast of Puducherry, and 90 km south of Chennai, according to the IMD.

The India Meteorological Department predicted light to moderate rainfall or thundershowers at many places over south coastal and Rayalaseema regions while extremely heavy rains are expected at one or two places over SPSR-Nellore, Tirupati and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on November 30 due to Cyclone Fengal, disrupting normal life and prompting evacuations. The rainfall, initially sporadic in coastal areas on the night of November 29, intensified into steady showers, accompanied by strong winds leading to flooding in many regions.

Many areas in the city were inundated, and several trees were uprooted. In the low-lying areas of Madipakkam, residents parked their cars on the Velachery flyover, a precaution following flood damage to vehicles during last year’s heavy rains. Other residents from Velachery, Madipakkam and Pallikaranai also moved their vehicles to higher ground. Roads were largely empty as civic workers, police, and fire/rescue personnel carried out rain-related relief and rescue operations.

Chennai metro in a post on X said, “Passengers are advised not to halt their vehicles at Koyambedu Metro, St.Thomas Mount and Arumbakkam Metro station and parking lots prone to water stagnation.”

(With inputs from PTI)