Nivar effect: Met dept. issues Yellow alert to Bengaluru and surrounding districts

Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued a yellow alert to Bengaluru and adjoining districts on November 25 and 26 since the depression over southwest Bay of Bengal is set to form into a cyclone, Nivar and make a landfall around midnight.

Cyclone Nivar - the second cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal this year after Super Cyclone Amphan in May - is set to make landfall between Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast on November 25.

The IMD issued Yellow alerts for Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Chikkaballapur, Mandya and Tumkuru districts.

"The influence of the approaching system can already be felt across Tamil Nadu and parts of, Telangana, Southern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in terms of increased wind speed, isolated rains and partly cloudy weather conditions," a source in the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre told IANS.

The source added that like any cyclone after making landfall, it is going to lose its strength and it is going to last at least three to four days.

The source added that for Bengaluru, cyclones tend to weaken rapidly after landfall as the ocean heat and moisture feeding the system is cut-off.

"Therefore, the devastating winds that a cyclone carries will not be hampering Bengaluru. Yet, the garden city has been kept under a yellow watch for Wednesday and Thursday by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), meaning to 'be updated' about the adverse weather conditions," the source added.

"More than Bengaluru, Rayal Seema of Andhra Pradesh is likely to be affected more and if it continues, it might even affect the Hyderabad-Karnataka region as well. All this can be exactly assessed only after Nivar makes a landfall this midnight," the source explained.

The source added that the primary reason for the alert is the possibility of heavy rainfall in the range of 60-120 mm on these two days.

Meanwhile, with Nivar set to make landfall in Tamil Nadu late on Wednesday, the South Western Railways has cancelled two trains originating from Bengaluru to Chennai on Thursday.

"Train no. 06075/06076 (MGR Chennai Central-KSR Bengaluru-MGR Chennai Central) Double Decker and 02607/02608 (MGR Chennai Central-KSR Bengaluru-MGR Chennai Central) Festival Special cancelled for November 26, in view of the impending cyclone," the SWR statement read.

It may be recalled that the post-monsoon season has been unusually rainy for Bengaluru this year with multiple spells of heavy rainfall in both October and November. The city has recorded nearly 20% excess rainfall since October 1 and most of this cumulative figure of 232 mm have been recorded on just three days of heavy rains.