Retrospect of cyclones in Tamil Nadu

Cyclone Nivar that made landfall near Puducherry in the early hours of Thursday, bringing heavy rains to the union territory and neighbouring Tamil Nadu is the latest in the line of howling monsters that have ravaged Tamil Nadu in the last few years. Before this, Cyclone Vardah, Cyclone Nilam, Cyclone Thane, Cyclone JAL and Cyclone Nisha have wreaked havoc in the coastal state of India.

Hyderabad: As the very severe cyclonic storm Nivar made landfall near Puducherry in the early hours of Thursday, bringing heavy rains to the union territory and neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that it has weakened into a severe cyclonic storm.

There were no reports of loss of life due to the cyclone which uprooted trees. However, the State government has reported incidents of walls collapsing in some parts of Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, the IMD had said Nivar will cross the coast near Puducherry with a wind speed of 120-130 kmph, gusting up to 145 kmph. The landfall of Nivar began late on Wednesday night.

Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Chennai, S Balachandran said rainfall is likely to continue in Tamil Nadu.

"The storm now lies inside the land area. There will, however, be rainfall and strong winds as well," he told PTI.

In the next six hours, the severe cyclonic storm will further weaken, he said.

Meanwhile, revenue, civic and police authorities have been on their toes coordinating and removing uprooted trees using heavy-duty motor equipment and backhoe loaders.

Cyclone Nivar is the latest in the line of howling monsters that have ravaged the state. Before this, Cyclone Vardah, Cyclone Nilam, Cyclone Thane, Cyclone JAL and Cyclone Nisha have wreaked havoc in this coastal state of India.

Rameshwaram cyclone 1964 or Dhanushkodi cyclone

It was in December 1964 a cyclone wiped out the town of Dhanushkodi and swept a train off the Pamban Bridge that connected Palk Straits (Rameswaram) to the rest of India.

Built a century ago and thrown open to traffic in 1914, the Pamban Bridge is an engineering marvel as it was first sea bridge in India. It is the pride of the Indian Railways with its structure that seems suspended midair, weathering gusty winds. The bridge is a marvel that bespeaks the attention engineers paid to minor details.

The bridge sways ever so gently as the coaches trundle and below the bridge, the bluish-green sea adds to its beauty. It takes 10 minutes to cross the 2.3 km long bridge. From inside the train, it appears as if you are travelling over a large river slowly. But this bridge is very special, for, once upon a time the bridge opened up, giving way to large ships to pass through.

Far beyond this bridge is a strip of land which today is just pristine sand, which until 1964 was connected by rail service. A bustling town called Dhanushkodi, had a full-fledged post office, railway station, temple and church. Everything was wiped out when a cyclone struck the town in December 1964. The Bay of Bengal on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other form Dhanushkodi's boundaries.

An estimated wind velocity of 280 km per hour and tidal waves as high as 23 ft swept Dhanushkodi on the night of 22-23 December 1964. Around 1800 people died in the cyclonic storm. Including 115 people travelling by the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train that night.

Unnamed cyclone (1994)

In the year 1994, a deep depression formed at a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal and crossed the shore between Chennai and Cuddalore with airspeeds reaching up to 115 km/hr. Heavy rainfall with strong winds killed 26 people in Tamil Nadu. The damage to life and property was heightened due to the lack of natural disaster preparedness.

Triple cyclones (2005)

Three heavy cyclones named Pyarr, Baaz and Fanoos joined to form one mega-cyclone. On December 7, 2005, this mega-cyclone crossed the shore near Vedaranyam with winds reaching 101 km/hr and they battered the shore for a long time. People in north Tamil Nadu were the worst hit, losing their farm produce and equipment. In Cuddalore and Chidambaram, houses were filled with water following the heavy rains in the aftermath of the cyclone.

Cyclone Nisha (2008)

Cyclone Nisha which hit Tamil Nadu in 2008 was also considered to be deadly. Nisha formed in the Bay of Bengal and on November 25 it crossed the shore near Karaikal with winds at 83 km/hr. The cyclone destroyed the livelihood of people in and around the city of Tanjore. Around 189 people lost their lives. Nisha was the first cyclone of its category to have hit Tamil Nadu after 22 years. More than 2,800 domestic animals died and 20 lakh acres of farming land was left barren in the wake of the cyclone.

Cyclone Jal (2010)

Cyclone Jal was formed in the South China Sea in 2010 and moved towards the Indian Ocean. JAL crossed shore in Chennai on November 6 with winds reaching a speed of 111 km/hr. This time, around 70,000 people were relocated to safe places but the death toll still touched 54.

Cyclone Thane (2011)

Cyclone Thane was formed in the east side of Indian Ocean in 2011 and it crossed the shore near Cuddalore and Puducherry with howling winds reaching over 165 km/hr on December 28, 2011. The destructive cyclone claimed the lives of 48 people out of which 38 lived in areas in and around Cuddalore. This fierce cyclone destroyed thousands of trees.

Cyclone Nilam (2012)

Cyclone Nilam originated from an area of low pressure over the Bay of Bengal on October 28, 2012. It became a cyclonic storm on October 31. Nilam crossed the shore around Mahabalipuram with winds reaching speeds of 83 km/hr. Such was the ferocity of the cyclone that seawater was found inside houses that were 100 meters away from the shore. In order to escape the wrath of nature, around 1,50,000 people had to flee their homes.

Cyclone Vardah (2016)

A ‘Very Severe’ cyclonic storm Vardah was first formed as a deep depression near Andaman Island and soon became a strong cyclone. It shook the capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai and thousands of trees were uprooted. Around-the-clock deluge stunned the residents of Chennai who were helpless to do anything. It was estimated that the total monetary loss from Cyclone Vardah was in the tune of over Rs 1,000 crore.

Cyclone Vardah brought heavy rainfall to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and then crossed the eastern coast of India and affected Chennai, Kancheepuram and Visakhapatnam. 38 people had lost their lives in the aftermath of the cyclone. Originating as a low-pressure area near the Malay Peninsula on December 3, the storm designated a depression on December 6. It gradually intensified into a Deep Depression on the following day, skirting off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and intensified into a Cyclonic Storm on December 8.

Cyclone Ockhi (2017)

Cyclone Ockhi was the most intense and one of the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2017 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. Ockhi from the Arabian Sea affected mainland India along with coastal areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. A total of 245 people were killed as an impact of this cyclone, other than a massive trail of destruction throughout the affected states.

Cyclone Gaja (2018)

Cyclone Gaja hit the coast of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the early hours of Friday, gusting with the wind speed of 120 kmph and causing widespread devastation. According to the official estimates, at least 46 people were killed and more than 251,600 people have been evacuated to over 500 relief camps.

Severe Cyclonic Storm Gaja was the fifth named cyclone of the 2018 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, after cyclones Sagar, Mekunu, Luban and Titli. Forming on 5th November 2018 as a low-pressure system over the Gulf of Thailand, the system crossed through Southern Thailand and the Malay Peninsula and eventually crossed into the Andaman Sea. The weak system intensified into a depression over the Bay of Bengal on 10th November 2018 and further intensified to a cyclonic storm on 11th November 2018, being classified 'Gaja'. After tracking west-south-westward for a number of days in the Bay of Bengal, Gaja made landfall in South India, shifted through Vedaranyam, Voimedu, Muthupet, and Adirampattinam. The storm survived its crossing into the Arabian Sea; however, it dissipated in hostile conditions only a few days later.

Cyclone Fani and Maha (2019)

Cyclone Fani that hit Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Odisha on April 30, 2019. 'Cyclone Maha' caused widespread rains in Tamil Nadu. The deep depression over Lakshadweep and adjoining southeast Arabian sea and the Maldives moved northwestwards with a speed of 25 kmph during and intensified into Cyclonic storm Maha.

Major Cyclones in the South Coast of India in 2019

Cyclone Amphan: India’s first major cyclone of 2020, Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan caused major damage in West Bengal, as well in the neighbouring country of Bangladesh. Odisha, another eastern state, was also hit by Amphan though it was spared the sort of damage that the cyclone caused in West Bengal. Formed on May 16, Amphan dissipated on May 21, leaving widespread destruction in its trail, claiming over 100 lives, most of which were from West Bengal.

Cyclone Nisarga: Severe Cyclonic Storm Nisarga struck the Indian subcontinent within just two weeks of Amphan, most severely affecting India’s financial hub of Maharashtra, where all fatalities due to the cyclone-six-took place. The state of Gujarat and the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNHDD) were also put on high alert though both escaped Nisarga’s wrath. Formed on June 1 and dissipated on June 4, Nisarga was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Maharashtra since June 1891.

Cyclone Fani: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani caused major damage in Odisha, being the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the state since 1999. Though Fani also affected other states like West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, as well as neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, it was Odisha that bore its brunt. Fani, which formed on April 26 April 2019 and dissipated on May 5, claimed 89 lives in all. Odisha was praised by the United Nations for its handling of the crisis.

Cyclone Bulbul: Another cyclone which affected both West Bengal and Bangladesh, Bulbul was a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm. A tropical cyclone, Bulbul began forming on November 5, 2019 and dissipated on November 11 and claimed a total of 41 lives. Only the second to make it to category 3 hurricane strength, with the first instance being in 1960, Bulbul also affected neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Thailand, besides Bangladesh.

Cyclone Vayu: Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Vayu was a strong tropical cyclone which claimed a total of eight lives in June 2019. Vayu was the strongest cyclone to hit Gujarat’s Saurashtra region since 1998. It formed on June 10, 2019 and dissipated on June 17. Vayu, which was named by India after the Sanskrit and Hindi word ‘vayu’ or wind, impacted more than 6.6 million people in the northwestern parts of the country.

Cyclone Maha: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Maha mainly affected the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala. Maha began as depression, further intensifying to become Cyclonic Storm, Very Severe Cyclonic Storm and, finally, Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm. Formed on October 30, 2019, Maha dissipated on November 7.

(With agency inputs)