Heavy rains lashed India’s eastern coastal states that braced for a second severe cyclone within a week, cancelling several flights, putting disaster response teams on alert and shifting thousands of people to safety on Monday.
Cyclone Murasu, a name meaning war drum, is expected to make landfall between Nellore and Narsapur in south Andhra Pradesh between Monday midnight and Tuesday early morning with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph, gusting up to 120 kmph.
At least 19 domestic flights were cancelled at Vijayawada, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam airports in Andhra Pradesh on Monday. Of these, IndiGo cancelled 10 flights and Air India Express two at Vijayawada Airport.
Visakhapatnam Airport cancelled four flights and Tirupati Airport three. The approaching severe cyclone poured rain on northern Tamil Nadu, inundating several parts of Chennai, where authorities declared a holiday for schools on Monday as the weather department forecast very heavy rainfall.
Chennai Airport authorities cancelled certain flights and requested passengers to contact the airline concerned for assistance.
Many parts of Chennai, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts have been receiving torrential rains since Sunday night. The weather office warned that the threat of heavy to very heavy rainfall persists for Chennai and Tiruvallur districts as the cyclone moves to the south Andhra Pradesh coast.
Heavy rainfall is expected to lash Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Vellore, and the Nilgiris districts. The forecast notes that rain intensity would gradually subside only after the storm completely crosses the coast.
While gearing up for the severe cyclone, Tamil Nadu extended a helping hand to Andhra Pradesh, which is expected to be in the eye of the approaching storm.
It sent three NDRF teams comprising 90 personnel and 25 teams from the electricity department, consisting of 500 personnel, with essential equipment to Andhra Pradesh.
Karnataka announced that it would deploy 500 skilled power personnel, along with necessary equipment, to Andhra Pradesh to assist in restoring power infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Arnab.