Four people were killed in Tamil Nadu as a tropical storm VARDAH slammed into India’s southeastern coast with monstrous ferocity, uprooting trees and power cables, toppling vehicles and damaging houses besides dumping heavy rain across two states.
Cyclone Vardah made landfall close to the Chennai coast at about 3 pm and barrelled inland, packing windspeed up to 140 kmph but is expected to lose intensity as it moves further inshore.
More than 9,000 people were evacuated to safety in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh while educational institutions were shut as the “very severe” cyclonic storm whipped up waves as high as 20 ft.
Naming of this Cyclone:
The name of severe cyclonic storm ‘Vardah’ has been given by Pakistan.
‘Vardah’, which means ‘red rose’, has hit northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh.
Name of cyclones in the Indian Ocean Region are decided by member countries — India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Maldives and Oman.
The last cyclone that hit Chennai was ‘Nada’, a name suggested by Oman.