Cyclone ‘Mandous’ is expected to make landfall on India’s southeastern coast around midnight, authorities said yesterday.
Tamil Nadu state said it has deployed nearly 400 disaster relief personnel and urged people to stock up on essentials and be prepared to move to shelters as cyclone approached.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said ‘Mandous’ has weakened from an earlier severe category, but warned that a storm surge of about 0.5 metre above the high tide was likely to inundate low-lying coastal areas of northern Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry when the cyclone makes landfall.