Climate Change

During the night: Mandous makes landfall; brings rain, water-logging and traffic disruptions

Mandous is now headed to Karnataka, where it could bring substantial rainfall

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Saturday 10 December 2022

A fallen tree being cleared from Arcot Road in Chennai. Photo: @chennaicorp / Twitter A fallen tree being cleared from Arcot Road in Chennai. Photo: @chennaicorp / Twitter 

Cyclone Mandous made landfall on the Tamil Nadu coast in the early hours of December 10, 2022, according to weather agencies. It is now heading to Karnataka.

The India Meterological Department (IMD) tweeted that Mandous had crossed the coast at about 1.35 am IST near Mamallapuram.

Pradeep John, who tweets about weather in Tamil Nadu, said the winds due to Mandous were the strongest since Cyclone Vardah in 2016.  

“One edge of the cyclone has almost started to touch the land. Strongest wind speed in Chennai since Vardah. Many stations have crossed 100 mm rainfall from 8.30 am and if we take from yesterday night it is 175 to 200 mm rain in Chennai City,” John tweeted at 11.18 pm December 9.

Disruption in Chennai

The cyclone caused water-logging and subsequent traffic disruptions in Chennai.

The civic authorities stopped the flow of traffic in certain stretches:

The Greater Chennai Corporation also tweeted several photos of its personnel working through the night, clearing fallen trees from key roads.

A satellite image shared by IMD showing Mandous making its way inland.

Mandous is now headed to Karnataka, where it could bring substantial rainfall according to Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science & Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK.

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.