Over ten flights have been cancelled or delayed at Chennai airport amid heavy rainfall and Cyclone Mandous warning. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued heavy to very heavy rainfall warning in parts of Tamil Nadu on Friday in the wake of Cyclone Mandous. While a red alert was issued in Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Villupuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, an orange alert was sounded in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Vellore, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore.

Some parts of the state were also on yellow alert. These areas include Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirappalli, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Mayiladuthurai, Karaikal, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Madurai and Dindigul.

People have been asked to avoid going to beaches and park cars in open areas and not under trees on Friday, news agency ANI reported. Also, a holiday was declared for schools and colleges in Chennai, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Vellore in the wake of these alerts.

Thank you for joining our coverage of Cyclone Mandous. We will now wrap the blog. Good night, folks!

Chennai | Tamil Nadu Revenue & Disaster Management Minister KKSSR Ramachandran and senior officials of the Disaster Management Department hold a meeting at the State Emergency Operation Centre at Chepauk, in view of cyclone #Mandous pic.twitter.com/nnzkbhwPgp

— ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2022

# Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday directed the Collectors of various districts to be vigilant in view of the cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal

#Cyclone Mandous expected to move further northwest, says S Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Metrology Centre.

Heavy rainfall in Chennai today & tomorrow as cyclone Mandous further expected to move North-West direction and expected to cross Puducherry & Sriharikota by tonight or early morning: S Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Metrology Centre pic.twitter.com/Muxclj7hQE

— ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2022

# Over 10 flights were cancelled at Chennai airport amid adverse weather conditions, news agency ANI reported

(Credit: ANI/Chennai airport)

# Puducherry CM N Rangasamy inspects preparations as cyclone #Mandous intensifies. The cyclone will cross the coast between Puducherry and Sriharikota around midnight of today to early hours of December 10.

# Team of the NDRF is fully prepared to tackle the impact of Cyclone Mandous. "Our officers are trained in areas like MFR, CSSR, rope rescuing, deep water diving etc. We're 24 hours on duty and will do our best to help the people," Sandeep Kumar, Sub-inspector, NDRF, was quoted by ANI as saying.

(Credit: ANI)

# Chennai continues to receive rainfall as Cyclone Mandous approaches. Cyclone to cross the coast between Puducherry and Sriharikota around midnight of today to early hours of December 10.

#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Chennai continues to receive rainfall as #CycloneMandous approaches. Cyclone to cross the coast b/w Puducherry and Sriharikota around midnight of today to early hours of December 10. pic.twitter.com/UOlL7g1EzJ

— ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2022

# The severe cyclonic storm Mandous has weakened into a cyclonic storm estimated to hit southern India late Friday night into the early hours of December 10, the India Meteorological Department tweeted.

# "Light to Moderate rain is likely to occur in Namakkal, Thiruppur, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Dindigul, Theni, Madurai, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts of Tamilnadu during next three hours," the weather department said.

Cyclone warning

A cyclone warning was issued for North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh coasts on Friday. In a press release early Friday, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Chennai said the severe cyclonic storm “Mandous” "over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly west-northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during past six hours and lay centered at 2330 hours IST of 08th December, 2022".

"It is very likely to maintain its intensity of Severe Cyclonic Storm till early morning of today (Friday), the 9th December and then weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm thereafter," the weather department said.

Under the cyclone's influence, "light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places very likely over north coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall are likely over adjoining north interior Tamil Nadu" on Friday. However, the rianfall imtensity is likely to weeken on Saturday.

With inputs from PTI.

First Published:Dec 9, 2022 8:00 AM IST