Cyclone ‘Michaung’ Crosses Andhra Coast; Air India Extends One-Time Waiver For Passengers

Bhubaneswar: After causing rain mayhem in Tamil Nadu, Cyclone ‘Michaung’ crossed south Andhra Pradesh coast close to south of Baptla between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm on Tuesday as a severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed in its latest hourly bulletin.

“The severe cyclonic storm over westcentral Bay of Bengal near south Andhra Pradesh coast moved northwards with a speed of 11 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centered at 2,30 pm over South coastal Andhra Pradesh, about 15 km southwest of Bapatla and 40 km northeast of Ongole.”

The system is likely to move nearly northwards and weaken into a cyclonic storm during next 2 hours, it added.

Nearly 900 people living in villages along the southern coast of Andhra Pradesh were evacuated ahead of Cyclone Michaung’s landfall. An alert was sounded in a few north and south Telangana districts amid forecast heavy rains under the influence of of the severe cyclonic storm. A ‘Red Alert’ has been issued for Mulugu and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts, ‘Orange Alert’ for Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Warangal and Hanamkonda districts and Yellow Alert’ for Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Nalgonda, Jangaon, Ydadri, Bhupalapally and Nagarkurnool districts.

Waterlogging was reported at a few places in Hyderabad and its suburbs, which have been receiving rains since the early hours of Tuesday.

Cyclone Michaung also disrupted flight and train services in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which also reported eight deaths due to rain-related incidents since the downpour began on Monday morning.

While over 100 trains were cancelled, 51 flight services were cancelled in all three major airports in Andhra Pradesh. isakhapatnam International Airport cancelled 23 flight services, while Tirupati cancelled all 15 services. All flights from Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, and Cuddapah were cancelled from Vizag airport, the TOI reported.

Meanwhile, Air India on Tuesday announced extension of the one-time waiver of rescheduling/cancellation charges for passengers travelling to and from Chennai till December 5, 2023.

“Important Announcement for Passengers travelling to and from Chennai: Air India has extended the one-time waiver of rescheduling/cancellation charges till 5th December 2023. For more information, passengers are requested to contact our 24×7 Customer Contact team on these numbers: 0124 264 1407, 020-26231407, 1860 233 1407,” said Air India in a post on X platform.

Chennai airport had shut its runway and grounded all planes on Monday after floodwater entered the airport. The operations have now resumed. IndiGo alone had to cancel 550 flights across India, while Vistara and Air India suspended at least 10 and 16 flights from Chennai, respectively.

IndiGo had to cancel 60 flights on Tuesday as well.