Storm makes landfall near Mamallapuram; rain claims four lives in Tamil Nadu
Cyclonic storm Nilam, which threatened to hit the Chennai coast, spared the city, but made landfall near Mamallapuram, about 60 km south of Chennai, on Wednesday evening.
Four persons were reported to have died during the day in different parts of the State, but a Revenue department official clarified that Kancheepuram district, where the storm crossed the coast between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., did not report even a single death.
Nilam evoked fears of large-scale destruction among the people in coastal districts in north Tamil Nadu.
The exact details about the landfall would be known on Thursday after an assessment by the Meteorological Department, according to Y.E.A. Raj, Deputy Director General of Meteorology.
Though many areas in the northern belt received heavy rainfall on Tuesday night, the intensity was not much during the day when Nilam made the last leg of its journey. According to a bulletin issued on the basis of observations at 8-30 a.m., the storm lay centred about 260 km south southeast of Chennai, and by 6 p.m, it made landfall.
At the time of crossing the coast, Chennai recorded the maximum wind speed of 75 km per hour and Kalpakkam 65 km per hour. Hereafter, it was expected to weaken rapidly after making northwestward movement.
A holiday has been declared for schools and colleges in all coastal districts, including Chennai, on Thursday.
Keywords: MT Prathiba Cauvery, Cyclone Nilam, Tamil Nadu, cyclone, Tamil Nadu weather, Andhra Pradesh, northeast monsoon, IMD, Nilam, rainfall, Elliots Beach, Besant Nagar, Navy, Coast Guard, cargo ship
Vengu, Sandeep, Venkat
You make good points. Above all the issue is attitudinal. We can and
should try and absorb good practices regardless of their origin.
Here's a quote that is still relevant:
"Gandhiji used to quote Rabindranath Tagore to bring home the point: I
would let the winds of the world blow through the doors and windows of
my house but I will not be blown away."
the logic of giving names to storms is to identify it at a later stage for example a strom strikes at a particular place in 2012 jan again when a storm strikes in the same month of the same year it will be difficult to distinguish which storm for calculating the amount of devastation,compensation etc ,just to identify the storm when and where occured a name is given to identify it easly.
Nandan, there is nothing wrong in following someone else's good practices. Your
attitude is apalling.
Naming things makes it easier to refer to it. Eg., 3 years later, one can say "this
storm is not as severe as Nilam", as opposed to "this storm is not as severe as the
one that happened 3 years ago, remember that one?". It also helps the MET dept
catalogue info about a storm in their database. Naming things is a rational way to
do. We Indians have not learned this simple thing. Even our streets and gullies are
unnamed. It shows are irrational thinking. Americans are easily one of the most
rational people on this planet.
Storms/cyclones are given names by the world meteorological association and names for
storms have been given since the early 1950s. Originally they were referred to by he
longitude and latitude, owever is easier to given a name. Since 1979 male and female
names are alternated.
This is not blind copying of Americans...
@Nandan - Helps meteorologist keep track of tropical storms incase there is more then one active.
The NILAM cyclone has caused lots of destruction in South-West India.The cyclone is to
have made its landoff on Wednesday evening itself. Still Schools and colleges in
Chennai are reported to be closed even on Thursday.
There is nothing wrong in following best practices. Like people, events
and colossal natural occurrences such as Nilam are important to be
named. 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy are crucial references when you
look at it in future. It is easy to say cyclone of Nov 2012 but we will
relate and remember when we refer to it as Nilam. I hope the damage is
minimal to life and property and hope you all get back to normalcy soon.
Take care
Naming storms is not a bad idea, it makes sense when one after other approaches, how do you refer them using numbers ? - 1 , 2 ?
When you have storms with names and in future say after 10 years, when you analyze the historical data, its easy to refer them with names instead of using numbers.
When Indian people follow many American culture (like eating burgers, soda etc) is treated as a great trend (well its actually a poor idea), following this (naming storms) is not a bad idea.
@Nandan True!
Now-a-days everything is about marketing. Even a bad thing is packed well and presented to public thereby missing the vital point.
what is up with these cousins, Sandy and Nilam, striking us people here in the USA and there in India
Instant coverage . thank u.
I am glad that India is taking examples and tips from advanced nations to deal with major catastrophies. They have learned from their mistakes and we can learn from theirs too. Giving names to cyclones is for Met depts to keep track as there are many such cyclones and it helps record this in history for future generations to learn from
From what I can see the states are geared up to deal with Nilam
why we r calling this nilam? hope no one will affect.
Having a name makes it easy for a common man to remember things long after the storm has passed. Whether the US does it or not, it seems useful. The key is, are we sufficiently predicting these storms, alerting to-be affected areas well in advance and avoid loss of life and minimise damage to property. We should be focused on these and hold people accountable.
My hearts go out to the men on vessel Prathiba Kaveri, the vessel is still at danger and Captain + approx 14 members are still onboard on the vessel and she is still drifting. Also almost 20 sailors were in water after one of the life rafts capsized. I hope all have been rescued and even other crew members on board are brough ashore safely. We should all pray for these men.
To the gentleman who posted first:
Naming convention is for scientific reasons not for American
following, often regional met. dept of the region decides it. While
occasional tropical storm like 'Nilam' is usual during monsoon, heavy
media attention for alert in these days of social networking is more
welcoming unlike we had during boxing day tsunami 2004.
@Nandan:
Giving names makes it easier to reference. Same reason why URLs are used
instead of IP addresses.
What I don't understand is why are the speeds of the winds measured in
miles per hour and not KM per hour.
I pray that things move on safely . hope no lives are lost of this storm.
hope it slows down to minimunm...nd finally ends..
Why people want to follow americans in everyway. Whats the logic of
giving names to stroms!
Makes me sic. :X
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