Cyclone alert at seven ports in Tamil Nadu; rain, strong winds expected

Chennai, Dec 23 The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued a third-level cyclone alert for seven ports in Tamil Nadu: Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Ennore, Kattupalli, Puducherry and Karaikal.

The alert is due to a low-pressure system over the central western Bay of Bengal, which has weakened into a depression.

The weather department predicts rain accompanied by strong winds on December 24 and 25 as the system moves west-southwest toward the southwest Bay of Bengal, near the coasts of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh.

Cyclone Fengal struck Tamil Nadu and Puducherry between November 29 and December 1, causing widespread destruction.

The cyclone claimed 12 lives and inundated 2,11,139 hectares of agricultural and horticultural land, resulting in significant losses for farmers.

Cyclone Fengal also caused extensive infrastructure damage, including 1,649 kilometres of electric conductors, 23,664 electric poles, 997 transformers, 9,576 kilometres of roads, 1,847 culverts, and 417 water tanks.

The Tamil Nadu government reported that 69 lakh families and 1.5 crore individuals were adversely affected.

Following the cyclone, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin requested Rs 2,000 crore as interim relief from the National Disaster Response Fund.

An initial damage assessment estimated losses at Rs 2,475 crore for relief and reconstruction efforts.

The Central government sanctioned Rs 944 crore as interim relief.

Heavy rains have been observed across Tamil Nadu due to the ongoing northeast monsoon, which has brought 14 per cent excess rainfall this season.

Tamil Nadu recorded 447 mm of rainfall against an average of 393 mm. Chennai saw 845 mm of rainfall (16 per cent above average), while Coimbatore registered a 47 per cent increase.

The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department (WRD) reported that reservoirs across the state are near full capacity. 12 reservoirs (3 in Coimbatore, 7 in Madurai, and 2 in Chennai) are at 100 per cent capacity, 18 reservoirs have exceeded 90 per cent of their total capacity, 23 reservoirs have water levels between 70 per cent and 80 per cent.

The Stanley Reservoir at Mettur, Tamil Nadu’s largest, is at 97.51 per cent capacity, holding 91.146 TMC out of its total 93.470 TMC.

The dam recorded an inflow of 7,368 cusecs and discharged 1,300 cusecs downstream as of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Sathanur Reservoir stands at 117 feet, just below its full reservoir level (FRL) of 119 feet.

The cumulative water storage across Tamil Nadu’s reservoirs is 195.455 TMC, leaving it 24.824 TMC short of full capacity.