Cyclone Michaung in the Bay of Bengal has now become a severe storm and is expected to make landfall over the coastal Andhra Pradesh region between Kavali and Machilipatnam by tomorrow morning.
As the cyclone moves closer to the coast, it has resulted in heavy rainfall activity over many parts of Tamil Nadu including the city of Chennai.
So much so that Chennai has recorded over 200 mm of rainfall in both the observatories wherein the Meenambakkam Observatory has recorded a whopping 250 mm of rain while the Nungambakkam has witnessed 230 mm of rain in just 24 hours. These heavy rainfall activities have resulted in waterlogging, and inundation along with massive traffic chaos including, rail, air and road traffic. Due to these rainfall activities, schools, colleges as well as government offices have already been declared closed and employees from private companies have been requested to work from home. Train cancellations were seen along with which 12 domestic and four international flights have been so far cancelled.
The cyclone continues to be in favourable environmental conditions and is expected to give more rainfall activity over the coastal regions. With this, the city of Chennai is still expected to record heavy rainfall activities today. In fact, in just about 3 hours, Nungambakkam observatory has already recorded 82 mm of rain while Meenambakkam has seen 67 mm of rains. While the storm has moved away from Chennai and is moving towards Andhra Pradesh and will cross the coast tomorrow, cloud bands continue to be over Chennai resulting in heavier showers.
So far, the Nungambakkam Observatory of Chennai has already recorded 528 mm of rainfall which is more than double its monthly mean for November.
We do expect hefty rains, strong winds, uprooting of trees and transmission poles, along with air, rail and road traffic chaos, resulting in further delays and cancellations across.