Tamil Nadu is bracing for yet another cyclonic storm Mandous as it intensifies over the Bay of Bengal and is predicted to weaken gradually before crossing the coast near Chennai on December 9 at midnight, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday.
'Mandous' has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and is expected to cross near Mamallapuram this midnight with a speech that could touch 85kmph.
Why has the storm been named 'Mandous'?
The name, ‘Mandous’, was suggested by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2020 as a member of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
A tweet in 2020 stated, “IMD issues new list of Names of Tropical Cyclones over north Indian Ocean. The current list has a total of 169 names including 13 names each from 13 WMO/ESCAP member countries.”
In Arabic, the word means a 'treasure box' and is pronounced as 'Man-Dous'.
It is a slow-moving cyclone that absorbs a lot of moisture and gains strength in the form of wind speeds.
How are cyclones named?
WMO maintains rotating lists of names which are appropriate for each Tropical Cyclone basin. If a cyclone is particularly deadly or costly, then its name is retired and replaced by another one, reads WMO’s website.
Tropical cyclones last for several weeks giving rise to more than one cyclonic storm. Hence to avoid confusion, the WMO names them, according to the rules at regional level, to avoid confusion.
In the Atlantic and in the Southern hemisphere (Indian Ocean and South Pacific), tropical cyclones receive names in alphabetical order, and women and men's names are alternated. Nations in the Northern Indian ocean began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones in 2000; the names are listed alphabetically country-wise and are neutral gender-wise.
The name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO members of a specific region. It is thereby approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/biennual sessions.
Precautions taken in Tamil Nadu
According to the Tamil Nadu government, 12 teams comprising nearly 400 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force and the State forces have been deployed in 10 districts including Nagapattinam and Thanjavur in the Cauvery delta region, Chennai, its three neighbouring districts and Cuddalore.
A holiday has been declared for schools and colleges on Friday.
The IMD on its Twitter handle said, "the CS Mandous intensified into an SCS and lay centred at 1730 IST over SW BoB about 350 km ESE of Karaikal and about 440 km SE of Chennai. It is very likely to maintain its intensity of SCS till early morning of 9th Dec and then weaken gradually into a CS by forenoon of 9th Dec."
In an updated bulletin, it said that the 'Mandous' lay 310 km off Karaikal and about 390 km off Chennai.
Meanwhile, light to moderate rains were witnessed in several parts of northern Tamil Nadu under the influence of the cyclone since Thursday night.
