Heavy rain lashes in the city. A scene at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai on Friday (November 29, 2024).
| Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
With the slow-moving system picking up pace, the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai (RMC) announced that cyclone Fengal will cross close to Puducherry by Saturday (November 30, 2024) afternoon.
The RMC has maintained a red weather alert indicating isolated extremely heavy rainfall in seven coastal districts on Saturday (November 30, 2024). Intense rainfall will cover various other districts too.
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On the day of the cyclone’s landfall, Chennai and neighbouring districts, Cuddalore, Puducherry, Villupuram and Kallakurichi, lie in the path of intense rainfall.
With the weather system consolidating itself, it is likely to bring heavy rainfall over north T.N. till Saturday (November 30, 2024) and western ghat districts and interior parts from December 1 to December 3.
Various other districts have been issued orange and yellow weather alerts as they are expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall. Delta districts and north interior districts too have prospects of heavy to very heavy rainfall on Saturday (November 30, 2024).
The RMC has updated that the cyclone Fengal would cross the north TN-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram, close to Puducherry, as a cyclonic storm by Saturday (November 30, 2024) afternoon. It would have a wind speed of 70-80 kmph, gusting up to 90 kmph during landfall. Cyclone Fengal was christened as per the IMD’s naming convention, and ‘Fengal’ was suggested by Saudi Arabia.
The weather agency had earlier said the system would weaken and cross the TN coast as a depression.
Rain gauges in Kathivakkam, Chennai Collector Office, and DGP office record 6 cm each, heaviest rainfall in the State till 8.30 a.m. on Friday (November 29, 2024). Light to moderate rainfall continued in many coastal districts till Thursday (November 28, 2024) evening.
With the weather system closer, Chennai experienced chilly weather as the day temperature dropped to 24.5 degrees Celsius on Friday (November 29, 2024). Gale winds of speed gusting up to 90 kmph are likely to prevail over seven districts, including Chennai and Cuddalore, on Saturday (November 30, 2024). Strong winds may blow over other north T.N. districts and delta regions.
S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said the cyclonic storm was complex and a different weather disturbance compared to those that had formed over the Bay of Bengal in the recent past.
With the wind convergence improving and decreased wind shear, it gained strength as a cyclone and moved at a speed of 10-15 kmph by Friday (November 29, 2024) evening. The system had more moisture incursions after it began moving away from Sri Lankan land mass.
“There were many changes in the strength of the highly dynamic weather system, and this had led to variations in the forecast by various weather models,” he added.
Published – November 29, 2024 10:41 pm IST
