Cyclone Nivar crosses Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, felling trees, disrupting power supply

The very severe cyclonic storm Nivar, crossed the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast late night and early Thursday morning with an estimated wind speed of 120-130 kmph, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

On its way the cyclone uprooted several trees and power lines in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore, Marakkanam and in Puducherry.

Power supply in several areas was disrupted. The concerned administration was removing the fallen trees.

In Puducherry also the power supply was disrupted.

Puducherry Chief Minister V.Narayanasamy told a news channel that power supply will be restored in a phased manner on Thursday itself.

He said, a lot of trees have fallen due to the cyclone and rain in continuing.

Narayanasamy said low lying areas were inundated and work was on to drain the water. Fallen trees were being removed. "Power supply was disrupted and it will be soon restored in a phased manner in 12 hours", he said.

As regards the cyclone damage to lives and property, Narayanasamy said the assessment will be made and by this afternoon, an estimate of damage will be known.

He said 80 relief camps have been set up in Puducherry. Camps have also been set up in Karaikal.

Narayanasamy said, "By Gods grace people of Puducherry escaped the fury of Nivar."

He also inspected the cyclone damaged areas and urged the people to stay indoors and fishermen not to venture into the seas.

In Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, police said the fallen trees have been removed to ease the flow of traffic.

Similarly, the officials of power utility were also on the job to restore power supply wherever it got disrupted due to the cyclone.

At Marakkanam near Puducherry, several power poles fell down and the fishermen community requested the Tamil Nadu government to restore the power lines at the earliest.

According to the weather department the cyclone lays centered over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry about 25km north of Puducherry with wind blowing at a speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.

In the suburbs of Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, water got logged due to rains affecting the residents as well as traffic flow.

Nivar will move northwest wards and weaken further into a cyclonic storm during the next three hours, the IMD said.

The cyclone began its landfall on Wednesday night about 10.30 p.m. after moving at a speed of 16 kmph for six hours.

In an early morning tweet, Puducherry's Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi said: "Good #MorningNutrition. Puducherry has faced the Cyclone, collectively and resolutely. Making us a stronger and a more experienced team."

Even after landfall, the cyclone was likely to maintain its intensity for about six hours and weaken gradually.

The sea along the coast was very rough with huge waves were hitting the shores.

IMD said, "Under its influence rainfall at most/many places with heavy to very heavy fall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy falls are likely to occur over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam and Cuddappa districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Gale wind speed reaching 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph very likely to prevail over interior districts (Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore) of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh in the early morning to forenoon, the weather department said.

The Puducherry government too has announced Thursday as a public holiday.

Twenty five teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed on the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh.