Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were getting ready for Tropical Cyclone Nivar, which arrived on the coast of Tamil Nadu-Puducherry late in the evening on Wednesday. The cyclone is known as a very severe cyclonic storm and it has caused heavy rain along with strong winds in this area – these conditions led to a large-scale evacuation process being initiated.
More than 1.25 lakh people have been shifted from low-lying areas to 1,486 relief camps in Chennai and southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The evacuation work was done by local agencies and authorities, with many residents leaving their houses after hearing the Tropical Cyclone Nivar warnings. On Wednesday evening, state disaster management commissioner D Jagannathan said around 175,000 people will be in relief shelters.
Tropical Cyclone Nivar has reached the land, arriving between Karaikal and Mamallapuram. The winds are strong, going up to 145 km/h. The process of the cyclone landing on land has started and it is predicted to become weaker in six hours. Already, we have seen heavy rain from this cyclone with districts like Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai receiving a lot of rainfall. The IMD has issued a caution regarding gale winds and very heavy rainfall in the next two days across some districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
For the Tropical Cyclone Nivar, authorities have made many preparations. The Chennai Airport stopped flights from 7 pm on Wednesday until 7 am on Thursday. All three ports in Chennai are closed and Southern Railways canceled at least 10 trains for Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, 16 districts in the state government made it a holiday.
Also, Wednesday was a vacation day. Fishing actions along the coast were stopped and many teams plus rescue ships from Coast Guard as well as National Disaster Response Force got sent to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry’s coastlines.
In Chennai, the people who make rules release very big amounts of water from Chembarambakkam lake. This lake is important for giving drinking water to the city. They let out the water at a speed of 1,000-1,500 cusecs in the afternoon on Wednesday, and it went up to 5,000 cusecs by evening time. This step was done to stop the same terrible flooding in 2015 from happening again. It caused the loss of life of more than 400 people.
Tropical Cyclone Nivar is the newest one in a group of severe cyclones that hit Tamil Nadu recently. Cyclone Gaja happened in 2018 and it harmed more than 22,000 hectares of farmland.
Also, Cyclone Okhi occurred in 2017 and it caused big damage to the southern parts of Tamil Nadu and along the Kerala coast. Cyclone Vardah in 2016 destroyed about 33,000 trees in Chennai city only, and Cyclone Nilam in 2013 resulted in many deaths, which included those of people who work at sea, in Chennai.
Tropical Cyclone Nivar caused major trouble in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry areas, moving more than 100,000 people to safety and causing several places to get a lot of rain and strong winds.
The leaders are doing things like moving people away, managing water, and stopping traveling and activities to lessen the damage from the cyclone. When the cyclone starts to get weaker, people are told to stay inside and listen to what the local people in charge say, to make sure they don’t get hurt.