The cyclone made landfall in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh near the town of Bapatla, the weather office said, barrelling in with winds of up to 110 kilometres per hour.
“The landfall process is continuing and is expected to complete during the next three hours,” the Indian Meteorological Department said on social media platform X.
Parts of the state are expected to be pelted with more than 200 millimetres of rain over the next 24 hours, the weather office said earlier, and at least 8,000 people have been evacuated.
A four-year-old boy died in Tirupati district after a wall fell, C. Nagaraju, executive director of the state’s disaster management authority said, while eight people were killed in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state, officials said.
In Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai, a major electronics and manufacturing hub, residents were seen wading waist-deep through the murky floodwaters, which swept away cars and submerged a runway, triggering the shutdown of one of India’s busiest airports until Tuesday morning.
The rains have stopped and water has receded at Chennai airport, and the airfield was operational from 9am local time, a spokesperson for the federal civil aviation ministry said.
The rains and winds also snapped power lines and uprooted trees, officials said, and over 140 trains and 40 flights were cancelled in Andhra Pradesh.
Taiwan’s Foxconn and Pegatron halted Apple iPhone production at their facilities near Chennai due to heavy rains, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
In December 2015, floods in Tamil Nadu killed at least 290 people and caused widespread damage.Severe cyclonic storm Michaung crossed south Andhra Pradesh coast close to Bapatla district between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm on Tuesday with maximum gales of up to 90 – 100 km per hour speed, said an Amaravati Meteorological Centre official.
The weather system is likely to move northwards and weaken into a cyclonic storm in the next two hours, said the official.
The weather system over west-central Bay of Bengal, running near south Andhra Pradesh coast moved northwards at a speed of 11 km per hour in the past six hours and crossed Andhra Pradesh coast between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm, according to a press release.
By 2.30 pm, it lay centred over south coastal Andhra Pradesh about 15 km southwest of Bapatla and 40 km northeast of Ongole.
While making landfall, the eye of the storm was situated near Bapatla in south Andhra Pradesh coast while the forward sector of the weather system had also entered overland. The landfall phenomenon lasted around three hours.
At many places in the affected districts of the southern state, Michaung left a trail of inundation, eroded roads, overflowing canals, swollen streams and ponds, including submerging thousands of acres of fields of crops in the agrarian state.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting to take stock of the severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday and assessed its impact and relief measures.
Officials informed that the cyclone made landfall between Nellore and Kavali and noted that the remaining part of the weather system was moving towards the sea, according to a Chief Minister's Office (CMO) statement.
Officials updated on the relief efforts being undertaken in the affected districts. CM Reddy instructed officials to take immediate measures to restore electricity in the cyclone-affected areas and also disburse compensation in the event of casualties or cattle loss.
Further, the CM instructed officials to efficiently distribute food rations deploying the ward and village volunteer system. He sanctioned Rs 22 crore for immediate relief efforts.
The state government set up helplines in the affected districts: Bapatla (8712655881), Guntur (0863 – 2234014), Krishna (08672 – 25272), NTR (0866 – 2575833), Chittoor (9491077356), Kadapa (08672 – 23272), Visakhapatnam (0891 – 2590100) and Tirupati (0877 – 2236007), among others.
Departmental helplines include Police (100, 112) and Fisheries (9390125477). In Anakapalli district, 52 rehabilitation centres have been set up and arrangements made to accommodate more than 60,000 people.
Further, the state government took steps to prevent four lakh tons of grains from getting wet. A holiday has been declared for schools in Eluru district.
In the wake of the severe cyclonic storm, several paddy fields were inundated at Sarvepalli in Nellore district. Special officer Hari Kiran went to observe Sarvepalli Reservoir. He also surveyed some affected places in Nellore town.
The services of ward and village volunteers came in handy for the state government. In Tirupati district, volunteers restricted movement of people near an overflowing bridge at Athuru village.
They shifted cyclone-affected people from an ST Colony in R Mallavaram village in Renigunta mandal to a nearby high school and also served food to them, among other relief activities.
