Cyclone Fengal: Schools, colleges to remain shut in Puducherry today

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Puducherry's Education Minister, A. Namachivayam, has said that government and private schools, as well as colleges will remain closed on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall caused by Cyclone Fengal.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy said on Monday that the Puducherry government has announced to provide relief assistance of Rs 5,000 each to all ration cardholders affected by Cyclone Fengal.

"Due to cyclone Fengal, Puducherry received 48 per cent rainfall, which was unexpected. The Puducherry government has decided to provide relief assistance of Rs 5,000 to all ration cardholders affected by the cyclone," Rangaswamy told reporters.

"Additionally, due to heavy rainfall, 10,000 hectares of crops in the Puducherry state have been damaged. Therefore, we have decided to provide Rs 30,000 per hectare to affected farmers. Cyclone Fengal has left a trail of destruction in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. The recent floods have damaged 50 boats, and the government has announced a relief package of Rs 10,000 for their repair," he added.

The cyclone resulted in extremely heavy rainfall in coastal regions of north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Particularly affected was the Sankaraparani River in Puducherry, where more than 200 residences in NR Nagar were inundated. The people living in the area remain stranded as the Indian Army along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are actively involved in rescue operations.

The Union Territory witnessed severe flooding, especially in areas surrounding the Sankaraparani River in Puducherry, where over 200 residences in NR Nagar were inundated.

The rescue teams are focused on saving lives, with boats deployed to navigate flooded streets and evacuate affected residents.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Fengal weakened into a deep depression on Sunday after making landfall near the Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast on November 30. Puducherry recorded 46 cm rainfall in 24 hour period, crossing the previous best 21 cm record of October 31, 2004, and breaking a 30-year record.

"The Cyclonic Storm FENGAL (pronounced as FEINJAL) over north coastal Tamil Nadu & Puducherry remained practically stationary during the past 12 hours, weakened into a deep depression, and lay centered at 11:30 hours IST of today, the 1st December 2024 over the same region near latitude 12.0°N and longitude 79.8°E, close to Puducherry, about 30 km north of Cuddalore, 40 km east of Villupuram and 120 km south-southwest of Chennai," the weather department said last week in a post on X.

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