Heavy rain and gusty winds, triggered by Cyclone Fengal, lashed northern Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry on Saturday, prompting a shutdown of the Chennai airport, and inundated many parts of the city.

In a 7:35 pm update, the IMD reported that the forward sector of the cyclone's spiral bands has already moved inland. The storm is forecast to continue moving west-southwest, crossing the northern Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram,

Cyclonic storm 'Fengal' began making landfall near Puducherry on Saturday, according to an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The landfall process is expected to continue for approximately four hours,

Cyclone Fengal has started making landfall near Tamil Nadu's Puducherry at 5:30 PM on Saturday and it will take nearly four hours to complete. As a pre-emptive measure, the state government appealed to people to stay indoors and declared November 30 a holiday for educational institutions as a precautionary measure.

Cyclonic storm Fengal has commenced making landfall close to Puducherry and it may approximately take 4 hours for it to cross the coast completely, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

Chennai and neighbourhood areas in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry reported heavy rainfall on Saturday with intense continuing as the cyclone Fengal's landfall process commences at around 7pm.

Landfall of Cyclone Fengal begins, likely to cross Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts in 3-4 hours, says weather office

The cyclonic storm has progressed towards Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts and is making landfall near Puducherry, an IMD official said. A red alert has been issued for 10 districts of Tamil Nadu.

Parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry experienced heavy rains due to the landfall process of cyclone Fengal. Senior officials in three southern states, including Andhra Pradesh assigned to supervise and coordinate related tasks with district authorities are stationed in their respective districts.

Chennai experienced gusty winds and heavy rain on Saturday due to Cyclonic Storm Fengal, causing tree uprooting and waterlogging. Fengal is expected to cross the north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast with wind speeds between 70-90 kmph.