Cyclone Murasu: Schools shut, flights face cancellations in Chennai

Heavy overnight rain in northern parts of Tamil Nadu left parts of Chennai waterlogged and disrupted air travel on Monday as severe cyclonic storm Murasu moved towards the south Andhra Pradesh coast. Authorities declared a school holiday in Chennai, where the IMD issued an orange alert.

Chennai airport authorities said some flights had been cancelled because of adverse weather and advised passengers to contact their airlines for updates and assistance. Torrential rain also lashed Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts from Sunday night.

Many parts of Chennai, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts have been receiving torrential rains since Sunday night. Over the past 24 hours, Madhavaram recorded 11 cm rainfall, while Ennore Port recorded 10 cm. Nungambakkam also reported significant rainfall of 10 cm, an official said.

An orange alert denotes "very heavy" rainfall of 11 to 20 cm.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G S Sameeran, who oversaw the civic body's operation to bail out water from inundated areas, said that while there is no major flooding, there however has been "some minor water stagnation" in certain areas.

"Out of 22 subways in the city, two faced a minor waterlogging issue, and the water was soon cleared for traffic," he told reporters on Monday and added that all the subways remain open for traffic.

The authorities are actively using pumps to clear these areas. The corporation has deployed field teams with backup motors in vulnerable areas. Additionally, the Commissioner is coordinating with the City Police Commissioner to manage traffic and prevent potential wave surges or coastal flooding.

The Corporation reported that while 28 monitoring stations across Chennai recorded heavy rainfall and five recorded very heavy rainfall (primarily in the northern zones like Parrys and Manali), no locations experienced extremely heavy or unmanageable downpours. Teams remain on active alert to clear remaining logged water.

According to the IMD, the Cyclonic Storm Murasu over Westcentral and adjoining Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwestwards with speed of 20 kmph during past 6 hours, intensifying into severe cyclonic storm and lay centered at 2.30 am of today, over the same region about 260 km east-northeast of Chennai, 290 km east-southeast of Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), 320 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 310 km east-southeast of Kavali (Andhra Pradesh), 330 km southeast of Ongole (Andhra Pradesh) and 470 km south of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

"It is very likely to continue to move northwestwards and cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with wind speed of 100 to 110 kmph gusting 120 kmph between Nellore and Narsapur close to Ongole during midnight of November 2 to early hours of November 3," it said.

According to sources, the convergence fell over North Coastal TN last night, bringing widespread rains.