Cyclone Mandous: South India will continue to receive heavy rains

Around midnight on Friday, Cyclone Mandous passed close to Mamallapuram in north Tamil Nadu, causing gusty surface winds and heavy to very heavy rains in Chennai and surrounding districts. Cyclone Mandous had weakened into a cyclonic storm and was centred about 180 km northeast of Karaikal, Puducherry, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

As Mandous approaches the coast, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to take the brunt of its wrath. Between 11:30 p.m. on Friday and 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Mandous made landfall over the northern Tamil Nadu coast, close to Mamallapuram. With winds gusting to 85 kmph and a maximum sustained wind speed of 65 to 75 kmph, it was a cyclonic storm when it crossed the coast.

Reportedly, the system will continue to produce light to moderate amounts of rain in the majority of locations and heavy to very heavy showers (64.5 mm-204 mm) in a few isolated locations for the next 24 hours across north Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema, and adjacent south Andhra Pradesh. In the early hours of Saturday, Cyclonic Storm Mandous weakened into a Deep Depression over northern Tamil Nadu. By Saturday noon, it will gradually weaken into a Depression.


At 5:30 am IST, it was still moving toward the northwest at a speed of 15 kmph, about 70 kilometres from Mamallapuram and 50 kilometres from Chennai.

As Cyclone Mandous becomes a severe cyclonic storm today, IMD has issued Red alerts to three districts in Chengalpattu, Villupuram, and Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu.

FAQs

Q1. How severe is Mandous the cyclone?
According to the IMD, Cyclone Mandous was previously categorised as a "Severe Cyclonic Storm" on the intensity scale, placing it at number four on the list of cyclone severity and intensity. This cyclone's winds have a speed range of 89 to 117 km/h. It is now a Cyclonic Storm with winds between 62 and 88 km/h.

Q2. Which country has the most cyclones?
China has the most cyclones