Cyclone Fengal weakens

Chennai: After making landfall near Puducherry on Saturday, Cyclone Fengal weakened on Sunday, but torrential downpour under its influence paralysed the Union Territory, with the Army stepping in to evacuate stranded persons in inundated streets. Old-timers recalled such a fury of nature was not witnessed in this tiny UT for the last three decades.

Villupuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu also suffered following heavy rains and inundation, with Chief Minister M K Stalin terming the rainfall in the district as 'unprecedented.' Operations at Chennai airport, which had been suspended on Saturday, resumed past midnight but many flights saw cancellations and delays initially, officials said. However, later in the day, operations were normal.

According to the latest update from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Fengal has weakened into a deep depression.

“The Cyclonic Storm FENGAL (pronounced as FEINJAL) over north coastal Tamil Nadu & Puducherry remained practically stationary during past 12 hours, weakened into a deep depression and lay centered at 11.30 hours IST of today, the 1st December 2024 over the same region near latitude 12.0°N and longitude 79.8°E, close to Puducherry, about 30 km north of Cuddalore, 40 km east of Villupuram and 120 km south-southwest of Chennai,” the weather office said in a post on ‘X.’ It is likely to move westwards very slowly and weaken gradually into a depression over north Tamil Nadu during the next 12 hours, it added.

Normal life was crippled in Puducherry, as the Union Territory received 46 cm rainfall, bettering the previous best of 21 cm recorded on October 31, 2004.

Cyclone Fengal triggered heavy rainfall, leading to inundation of all residential areas on the outskirts Of boulevard limits. Trees were uprooted at various places under the impact of the cyclonic storm. Power outage was reported in most of the localities since 11 pm on Saturday.

The Indian Army deployed its soldiers and boats and evacuated stranded people. According to a Defence release, about 200 people were rescued from three different locations in Puducherry, including Krishna Nagar. Many housing colonies were waterlogged and residents could not step out of the dwellings for hours together. Two-wheelers and cars parked on roads partially submerged in rainwater that entered several houses here, residents said.