Cyclone Fengal : Over 19 Killed In India And Sri Lanka, Incessant Downpour Breaks 30-Year Record In Puducherry

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Cyclone Fengal, the cyclonic storm that made a landfall near Puducherry on November 30, weakened on Sunday. However, the incessant downpour it brought with it, wreaked havoc in the union territory. This storm marked fury of nature in the form of heaviest 24-hour rainfall that was not witnessed in the last three decades, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Army was called in to evacuate stranded individuals from inundated streets and waterlogged roads . In addition to inundation, the residents suffered power outage in most of the localities in Puducherry. The damage extended to inundation of houses as the storm uprooted trees and impacted transport services.

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Tamil Nadu's Villupuram suffered massive economic loss in addition to loss of life, owing to heavy rains as Chief Minister M K Stalin called the downpour in the district as 'unprecedented.' Over 19 people were killed in India and Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Cyclone Fengal, reported Reuters.

Chennai airport had to suspend operations for hours on Saturday leading to cancellations and re-scheduling of various flights. Services resumed at 4:00 am on December 1.

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According to Disaster Management Centre in Colombo, as many as 1,38,944 families suffered the wrath of nature, while 16 people were killed in Sri Lanka. Visual footage on local media showed gusty winds sweeping across Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts as heavy rainfall submerged roads. Boats were being used to rescue people.

As per weather agency's update, 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 1130 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," IMD said in a post on 'X.'

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According to the Met Department, the storm will move westwards and weaken gradually into a depression over north Tamil Nadu during the next 12 hours. Notably, Puducherry received 46 cm rainfall, surpassing the previous best of 21 cm recorded on October 31, 2004.

(With PTI inputs)

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