Chennai airport shuts operations till 7 pm as cyclone Fengal nears landfall, BA

Chennai Airport has temporarily shut its operations till 7 p.m. on Saturday as heavy rains and gusty winds intensified ahead of Cyclone Fengal’s expected landfall. The cyclone is predicted to cross between the Karaikal and Mahabalipuram coasts, near Puducherry, later in the evening.

“In light of Cyclonic Storm ‘Fengal’ and the forecasted high crosswinds, as predicted by IMD, Chennai Airport operations will be suspended from 1230 hrs to 1900 hrs on 30.11.2024 (Today) following safety concerns raised by stakeholder airlines. We recommend passengers check with their respective airlines regarding their flights,” the airport said in a port on X.

Multiple airlines have already issued travel advisories and updates on their flight plans due to the continuing heavy rains in Tamil Nadu Capital.

“Flights to and from Chennai are getting affected due to inclement weather and heavy rains,” read an X post by Air India.

IndiGo issued a travel advisory and said that their flights in multiple cities, including Chennai, Tiruchirappali, Tuticorin, Madurai, and others were impacted.

“The current weather conditions continue to impact flights to/from Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Tuticorin, Madurai, with Tirupati and Vishakhapatnam now also affected,” read the X post by IndiGo Airlines.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai, intense rain spells are expected to continue in the north coastal districts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday due to the cyclone’s impact. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy rain is expected at one or two places over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Villuppuram, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore districts and Puducherry today.

“Heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam districts and Karaikal area. Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukkottai and Karur districts,” Tamil Nadu IMD said in a release.

Cyclone Fengal over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards earlier and is expected to cross north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts later in the day, IMD said.

“It is likely to move nearly westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram close to Puducherry as a cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph during evening of November 30,” the weather department added.

Fengal is being continuously monitored by the IMD from Doppler weather radars at Chennai (S Band), Sriharikota, and Chennai (X band) in addition to the satellite observations.