Several flights cancelled ahead of Cyclone Mandous’ landfall; heavy rains in part of Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI, DEC 9: Several parts of Tamil Nadu are witnessing light to moderate rainfall with some places receiving heavy showers on Friday as cyclonic storm ‘Mandous’ continues to move closer to the State’s coastline. It is set to cross coast near here starting midnight, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.

Several weather stations in and around Chennai clocked rainfall of 7 cm each in the morning; it was light to moderate in other regions.

From 6 PM today till midnight, the departures of several flights from Chennai have been cancelled. However, trains including suburban services were operated.

Bus services are facing disruption in view of waterlogging in a string of areas.

Schools and colleges will be closed in several districts today and on Saturday.

The IMD said Doppler weather radars are monitoring the cyclone which weakened into a cyclonic storm on December 9 after being a severe cyclonic storm for less than 24 hours.

Mandous, pronounced ‘man-dous’ is an Arabic word and it means treasure box. The name was reportedly picked by the United Arab Emirates.

-TNIE