Cyclone Nivar, which is centred over the south-west Bay of Bengal about 430 km away from Chennai and 350 km from Puducherry, is currently moving at 5kmph and will turn in to a “very severe cyclonic storm” before making landfall between Mahabalipuram in Chennai and Karaikal area. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has stated that the wind speed will range between 120 and 145 kmph in the areas where the cyclone will make landfall and it is expected to make landfall in the late evening on 25 November.
As the cyclone is most likely to make landfall near Puducherry, the government has announced curfew from 24 November 9pm to 26 November 6am. As per the orders issued by the Puducherry District Magistrate Purva Garg, during this curfew period, all the shops and other establishments will remain closed and the presence and movement of people in public is prohibited. The Puducherry government has also closed the schools until further orders and the 30 fishermen who ventured into the high sea from the Karaikal area have not returned to the shores yet. Local officials say that efforts are being taken to reach out to them and direct them to the Andhra Pradesh coast.
In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami visited the Tamil Nadu State Disaster management authority control and held a meeting with the officials. While addressing the media, the Chief Minister announced a public holiday for 25 November in view of Cyclone Nivar and has said that only essential services will operate on Wednesday. The Chief Minister also requested the general public to stay indoors tomorrow and asked the people living in low lying areas to move to relief camps. Tamil Nadu DGP has deputed 10 IPS officers to monitor the relief and rescue works in the 12 districts where the cyclonic storm is expected to cause damage.
The southern railways have cancelled 25 trains which mostly runs in the southern districts and the sub urban rail service is also suspended from 10am tomorrow until further orders. All the inter and intra bus service in seven districts has already been suspended from 1pm on Tuesday till Thursday morning. Omni bus operators also have suspended their services to the seven districts where the government has suspended the operations.
NDRF has deployed 22 teams at the areas where it is likely to be affected by the NIVAR cyclone. As per the statement issued by the NDRF, 12 teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu and three in Puducherry for rescue operations. All the teams are equipped with wireless and satellite communication devices, tree cutters, pole cutters and PPE kits. People called 1913 with prefixing theory district code to register their complaints and call for help.
The Met department has also issued a warning to the southern coast of Andhra Pradesh, saying its impact will be there on the southern coast as well. Nellore district is likely to receive heavy rainfall and parts of Guntur and Prakasam districts are likely to witness extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places. Rayalaseema is also likely to witness heavy rains over these three days. Fishermen along the coast have been advised not to venture into the sea for three days.
Winds in Andhra Pradesh may blow at the speed of 120 km per hour. An “orange alert” was issued for Andhra Pradesh and certain districts of Telangana due to the cyclone. The Andhra administration has geared up to meet any eventuality and has set up medical teams to tackle any situation.
WITH INPUTS FROM LOKESWARA RAO, IN HYDERABAD