Heavy rains from Cyclone Michaung disrupt life in India's Tamil Nadu state

The severe cyclonic storm formed over the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall on Tuesday

Heavy rains from Cyclone Michaung caused severe flooding on India's south-east coast on Monday, affecting the main airport and metro stations in Tamil Nadu state.

The cyclonic storm, named Michaung by Myanmar, meaning "strength or resilience," formed over the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall in Andhra Pradesh state, north of Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday morning.

Michaung is likely to intensify gradually and move northwards almost parallel and close to the Andhra Pradesh coast, coming ashore between the cities of Nellore and Machilipatnam with wind speeds of 90-100kph, gusting to 110kph, the Meteorological Department said.

Heavy rains from the cyclone have already disrupted life.

In Tamil Nadu, the state government shut down schools and education institutions, government offices, banks and financial institutions and issued an advisory asking people to remain indoors and work from home and to stock critical items such as water, food and medicines.

Schools were also closed in Andhra Pradesh.

Authorities in Tamil Nadu have set up about 5,000 relief camps and mobilised emergency workers to rescue people from vulnerable coastal communities.

Several volunteer groups in the state capital Chennai used boats to ferry residents from flooded low-lying areas.

Besides the disruption of train services and flights at Chennai airport, many areas have reported power cuts and internet disruption caused by torrential rains and squally winds.

“Scary scenes near Navalur in Chennai. Never seen something like this in my whole six years of Chennai life. Worst max. Please stay safe in indoors people,” resident Haamid Yuvan said on X, formerly Twitter.