Chennai: Cyclone Nivar, which made landfall this morning, made people of Chennai suffer without two basic necessities- electricity and mobile phones, while filling their neighbourhoods with water.
‘Electrcity supply was cut last night and is yet to resume. Mobile network was too slow that I was not able to call anyone and check messages on social media,’ said Kiran of Chrompet.
Echoing him, Sundaresan from Ambattur said, ‘We suffered a lot last night without power. My parents living in our native were unable to reach us as mobile network (or ‘tower’ in popular language) was not available.’
Meanwhile, Electricity Minister P Thangamani said power supply will be restored at the earliest in the city and other parts of Tamilnadu.
The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) ‘Nivar’ crossed the coast near Puducherry as a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) early today morning.
The landfall process marked by gusty winds that touched more than 120 kmph began around midnight and ended around 0300 hrs today morning, Met office said.
In its update, the met office said the SCS over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwestwards with a speed of 11 kmph
during the past six hours and lay centred over north coastal Tamilnadu about 50 km north-northwest of Puducherry.
It would continue to move northwestwards and weaken further into a cyclonic storm during the next three hours.
Even after making a landfall, it still maintains a wind speed of 85 to 95 kmph as it moved in to the interior areas.
Parts of Tamilnadu and Puducherry, including Chennai, received persistent rains and strong winds, leading to water logging and uprooting of trees.