Cyclone Fengal: Puducherry schools to remain closed on Monday due to heavy rains; The IMD issues an orange alert level

Puducherry declared closure of schools on December 2 due to heavy rain due to Cyclone Fengal. All educational institutions will remain closed on Monday due to an orange warning for heavy rains in Puducherry.

Puducherry Education Minister A. Namachivayam on Sunday said that due to incessant heavy rains, a holiday has been declared tomorrow in all public and government schools, private schools and all colleges in Puducherry, reports said. NOR.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Fengal on Sunday moved into a deep depression after it made landfall near Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast November 30. Puducherry recorded 46 cm of rainfall in 24 hours, surpassing the previous record of 21 cm on October 31, 2004 and breaking a 30-year record, PTI reported

Several districts of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu were inundated as torrential rains inundated roads, streets and houses. Authorities called in the army to rescue people trapped and evacuate people stranded on flooded streets.

Nature’s fury has taken over not only the union territory but also the Villupuram municipality. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin called the rainfall in the district “unprecedented”. Flights from Chennai Airport were temporarily suspended on Saturday, and the shutdown was extended until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday.

A cyclonic storm has killed more than 19 people in India and Sri Lanka, Reuters reports. Cases of uprooting of trees, drowning of people, electrocution, power outage subway flooding was also reported. The Chennai Traffic Police and the Metro Authority have issued guidelines advising people to stay away from waterlogged roads and parking lots.

“Cyclonic storm FENGAL (pronounced FEINJAL) over the northern coast of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry remained virtually stationary for the past 12 hours, weakened into a deep depression and was centered at 11:30 AM ET today, 1 December 2024, over the same region near latitude 12.0°N. sh. and 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 department said in a statement on X.

Cyclone Fengal brought a year’s worth of rainfall in parts of Tamil Nadu in 36 hours. Tamil Nadu Additional Chief Secretary for Revenue and Disaster Management Rajesh Lakhani said some areas received about 56 centimeters of rain, reports said. NOR.