• More than 10 flights cancelled at Chennai airport due to bad weather, Cyclone Mandous to hit Tamil Nadu tonight, according to media reports.

Several parts of Tamil Nadu witnessed light to moderate rainfall and some places heavy showers as the cyclonic storm 'Mandous' continued to move closer to the State's coastline, and it is set to cross coast near here starting midnight, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday. Under the influence of the cyclonic storm, several areas here witnessed heavy rainfall (including Nungambakkam--7 CM) and it was light to moderate in other regions.

The IMD said Doppler weather radars are monitoring the cyclone which weakened into a cyclonic storm on December 9 after being a severe cyclonic storm for less than 24-hours and it now lay at about 260 km south-southeast of Chennai and 180 km east-northeast of Karaikal.

Mandous, pronounced 'man-dous' is an Arabic word and it means treasure box and the name was reportedly picked by the United Arab Emirates.

The cyclonic storm is very likely to move nearly northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota near Mamallapuram as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph, during midnight and early hours of Saturday.

Starting from 6 PM today and till midnight the departure of at least five flights from here have been cancelled. Trains including suburban services were operated and there was some disruption in bus services in view of water logging in a string of areas. Schools and colleges were closed in several districts.

In neighbouring Puducherry, the territorial administration declared holiday for all schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal regions on Friday and Saturday after the IMD issued a cyclone warning.

Puducherry Home and Education Minister A Namassivayam said in a release that the government took note of the warning issued by the IMD that a strong cyclone would hit Puducherry and Karaikal regions under the influence of the storm in the Bay of Bengal. All schools and colleges would remain closed for two days from Friday, he added.

The Department of Revenue and Disaster Management geared up all departments concerned with relief works and deployed rescue teams to respond to any exigency.

A storm warning signal flag Number Five has been hoisted at the Puducherry port and fisherfolk had been asked not to venture into the sea.

Chief Minister N Rangasamy held discussions with officials of Revenue and Disaster Management Department officials.