NEW DELHI, Dec 4: The flight operations have been disrupted in Chennai, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam while 40 trains from to and from Kerala have been cancelled on Monday as cyclone Michaung brought in torrential rains in several parts of southern India states and is set to hit the coast between Nellore and Machalipatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
The arrival and departure of flights at Chennai airport was suspended for couple of hours on Monday due to heavy rains and winds. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the airfield would be shut for arrival operations till 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Several flights were diverted and many flights were cancelled at the airport since Sunday (December 3) night due to strong winds and downpours caused by Cyclone Michaung, Sources said, there was quite a bit of waterlogging in some of the taxiways.
Due to heavy rains in Chennai, triggered by cyclonic storm ‘Michaung’, around 33 flights have been diverted to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Monday, December 4. The Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) officials said both domestic and international flights which were scheduled to land in Chennai were diverted to the KIA.
“Several flights have been diverted from Chennai to KIA. Chennai airport has also announced that they would remain closed for arrival operations for a specific period. Not just Chennai, even Tirupati, Visakhapatnam all these regions have issues due to weather conditions. So, there are several delays and cancellations as well. We advise passengers to check the status of their respective flights and so far, 33 flights diverted from Chennai have landed at KIA here,” a BIAL official said.
IndiGo has cancelled its ATR flights from Visakhapatnam – Tirupati, Tirupati – Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada – Vizag and Vizag – Vijayawada. IndiGo has also cancelled its bigger flights (A 320) Chennai – Visakhapatnam and Visakhapatnam – Chennai and Visakhapatnam – Hyderabad flight (scheduled to leave at 3.55 p.m.). “The cancellation of the Chennai flights has been necessitated due to bad weather in Chennai. Other bigger flights operating from Visakhapatnam airport are operating normally, at present,” Airport Director Raja Reddy said.
Severe disruptions were experienced at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) as a result of bad weather and heavy rains in Chennai, attributed to the cyclonic storm named ‘Michaung.’ As many as four flights were affected by the adverse conditions.
Officials from GMR Hyderabad International Airport acknowledged the current situation and expressed concerns about potential escalation as the cyclone intensifies. They anticipate further delays and diversions throughout the day.
Among the impacted flights was Alliance Air flight 9I 893, originally scheduled to depart from RGIA to Chennai International Airport. However, due to the unfavourable weather conditions in Chennai, the flight was cancelled. The scheduled departure time from RGIA was 7:15 a.m., with an expected arrival in Chennai at 9 a.m.
Two IndiGo flights en route from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to Chennai and Tirupati had to return to Hyderabad due to the adverse weather. IndiGo flight 6E 7532, destined for Tirupati, took off at 6:51 a.m. and returned to RGIA due to unfavourable weather conditions at Tirupati. Additionally, IndiGo flight 6E 289, scheduled to depart for Chennai at 6:10 a.m., took off at 7:32 a.m. but had to return to Hyderabad due to the challenging weather in Chennai.
Another incident involved IndiGo flight 6E 971 departing from Chandigarh’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport at 7:23 a.m., with a scheduled landing in Chennai at 10:20 a.m. However, the flight was diverted to RGIA and landed around 10 a.m. due to the adverse weather conditions in Chennai.
The Southern Railway has cancelled 40 train services to and from Kerala including Sabarimala special trains, in view of the cyclone Michaung. Trains originating from different points between December 2 and 7 have been cancelled.
The cancelled trains include Narasapur–Kottayam Special; Secunderabad Junction–Kollam Junction Special; Gorakhpur Junction–Kochuveli Rapti Sagar SF Express; Thiruvananthapuram Central–New Delhi Kerala SF Express; Nagercoil Junction–Shalimar Gurudev SF Express; Dhanbad Junction–Alappuzha Express; Secunderabad Junction–Thiruvananthapuram Central Sabari Express; Tatanagar Junction–Ernakulam Junction Biweekly Express; Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express; Tirunelveli Junction–Bilaspur Junction Weekly Express (via Thiruvananthapuram-Alappuzha-Ernakulam); Ernakulam Junction–Patna Junction Biweekly Express; Patna Junction–Ernakulam Junction Biweekly Express; Kochuveli–Korba Biweekly Express; Ernakulam Junction–Patna Junction Weekly Express; Bilaspur Junction–Ernakulam Junction Weekly Express; and Hatia–Ernakulam Junction Dharti Aaba SF Weekly Express.
(Manas Dasgupta)