India braces against arrival of cyclone Mandous
New Delhi, Dec 8 (EFE).- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an alert Thursday against the imminent arrival of Cyclone Mandous in the southeast of the country.
Mandous is expected to make landfall late Friday accompanied by heavy rains, and gusts of up to 85 kilometers per hour (53 miles per hour), which could cause flooding in some coastal areas.
The cyclone is expected to cross northern Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and the coastal areas of southern Andhra Pradesh at a maximum sustained windspeed of 65-75 kph and gusts of 85 kph around midnight of Dec.9, according to a tweet by the IMD in the afternoon.
IMD added that the cyclone was located about 400 km southeast of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, and was moving across the Bay of Bengal to India.
It further said Mandous was expected to turn into a severe cyclone storm in the coming hours.
The IMD also warned of possible flooding of the lower areas of northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the initial moments of the cyclone’s landfall.
Several of the affected areas already received light to moderate rains on Thursday, said the meteorological institute, which were strong in isolated points.
These precipitations will continue to until Saturday, accompanied by winds of between 55-75 kph in the morning, reducing significantly at night.
With the cyclone alert on, several districts of Tamil Nadu declared a closure of schools on Friday.
Moreover, the IMD recommended regional governments to ban any fishing activity between Thursday and Saturday.
Cyclones are common in the coastal areas of India. A year ago, Cyclone Jawad prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
In May 2020, super cyclone Amphan left more than 100 people dead in India and Bangladesh, in one of the worst such incident in recent years. EFE
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