CHENNAI: The landfall of the very severe cyclonic storm Nivar commenced on Wednesday night, the India Meteorological Department tweeted.
The centre of the cyclone will cross the coast near Puducherry within next three hours with a wind speed of 120-130kmph gusting up to 145kmph. S Balachandran, deputy director general of India Meteorological Department (IMD)-Chennai, said the landfall would happen around 30km north of Puducherry. The landfall is happening near Marakkanam.
The centre moved north-westwards with a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours.
Nivar was situated around 50km east-southeast of Cuddalore and 40km east-southeast of Puducherry at 10.30pm.
Experts said the system might move over the land with some level of intensity for 12 to 18 hours after landfall, which means gusty winds and sudden intense spells of rainfall may continue on Thursday.
“If the cyclone crosses by November 26 morning, it will completely weaken by November 27 evening,” said YEA Raj, former deputy director general of India Meteorological Department. However, the time taken for the system to move over the land depends on the availability of moisture over land and terrain.