Cyclonic Storm Fengal (; ) was a deadly

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

that brought significant flooding and damage to

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The fourth and final cyclonic storm of the 2024 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Fengal originated from a

tropical disturbance Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few classifications are used officially by the meteorologica ...

off the coast of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

on 14 November. It killed at least 37 people; 20 in India and 17 in Sri Lanka, along with 20 injuries. Economic losses reached $55 million.

Meteorological history

On 14 November, the Australian

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...

noted the potential formation of a tropical low west of

. The tropical low formed a few days later due to the occurrence of a

westerly wind burst A westerly wind burst (WWB) or westerly wind event (WWE)https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Westerly_wind_burst is a phenomenon commonly associated with El Niño events, whereby the typical east-to-west trade winds across the equatorial Pacific shift ...

. As the low formed, it led to the formation of an

invest Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

on 18 November, designated as 96S by the

JTWC The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

. It later formed a deadly

twin cyclone A westerly wind burst (WWB) or westerly wind event (WWE)https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Westerly_wind_burst is a phenomenon commonly associated with El Niño events, whereby the typical east-to-west trade winds across the equatorial Pacific shift ...

. Another invest was formed on 21 November, designated as 99B. This invest struggled to develop initially due to the presence of strong

wind shear Wind shear (; also written windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical ...

with convection spread all the way from the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

. Subsequently, it organised itself into a low pressure area on 23 November. As it moved westward, the

India Meteorological Department India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an Indian agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. IMD is headquar ...

(IMD) began tracking the system for potential

tropical cyclogenesis Tropical cyclogenesis is the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropics, tropical cyclogenesis occur are distinctly different from those through which temperate cyclogenesis occu ...

. It strengthened into a depression on 25 November while it moved northwestwards towards

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and Sri Lanka coast. On 26 November at 01:30 IST, JTWC issued it a

Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) is a bulletin released by the U.S. Navy-operated Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii or the Fleet Weather Center in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of the possibility of a tropical cyclone formi ...

on the depression as it began to move northward, paralleling the

Coromandel coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

. On the same day, in southwestern parts of Bay of Bengal, it intensified further into a deep depression, later moving into

. It continued moving parallel to the Coromandel coast and by 27 November, it was located 490 km south-southeast of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. The JTWC noted that the system showed highly disorganized but persistent areas of convection. It was in a marginal environment for

with high vertical

just northeast of Sri Lanka limiting further intensification. On 28 November, the system maintained its intensity and moved north-northwestwards at a speed of 9 km/h. By 14:30 IST on 29 November, the system became organized and strengthened into a cyclonic storm, given the name Fengal by the IMD. At that time, it was 300 km southeast of Chennai and moved of 13 km/h. On the early morning of 30 November, Fengal reached its peak intensity with 3-minute sustained winds of 85 km/h. The JTWC recorded a 1-minute sustained winds 95 km/h and a pressure of 987 hPa as it moves westward toward

at the same time. It made landfall near

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: Places in India * Puducherry (union territory), formerly known as Pondicherry ** Puducherry (city), capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district The Puducherry District, also know ...

and

Marakkanam Marakkanam is a coastal Selection Grade panchayat town & Taluk in Viluppuram district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is well connected to the state capital Chennai and the nearby union territory of Puduch ...

regions between

Karaikal Karaikal (, , Help:IPA/French, /kaʁikal/) is a port city of the Indian States and territories of India, Union Territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is the administrative headquarters of the Karaikal district, Karaikal Di ...

and Mababalipuram coasts on the evening of 30 November and weakened slightly due to land interaction and wind shear. The next day on 1 December, the system had weakened to a deep depression by 11:30 IST at a distance of 30 km north of

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is a heavy industries hub and a port city, and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important city and port during the Britis ...

. The same day by 17:30 IST, the remnant of the cyclone weakened further into a depression over the same region. It weakened further into a remnant low over north interior

on 2 December. The next day on 3 December, the system emerged over coastal

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, proceeded into the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

and dissipated on 4 December.

Preparation

As Fengal formed, the IMD issued a red alert for the states of

, southern

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, and

as extremely heavy rainfall was expected. As Fengal approached India, the

government closed all schools in its district until 30 November. Fishermen were advised to halt fishing and move their boats to higher ground in anticipation of Fengal's landfall over Puducherry. Chennai's Meenambakkam Airport suspended operations until the morning of 1 December.

Impact

Sri Lanka

As Fengal crossed Sri Lanka in depression stage, it caused significant damage. Nearly 480,000 people were displaced, 17 were killed and 20 were injured, with 103 homes destroyed and 2,635 others damaged.

India

Tiruvannamalai Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city and the administrative headquarters of Tiruvannamalai District in the Indian state of ...

, 10 people died; seven from a landslide, two from drowning and another due to electrocution. Heavy rains of up to also caused severe flooding in

, resulting in four deaths from electrocution. In

Ooty Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), Anglicisation, anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north ...

, heavy rains caused a house to collapse, killing a 45-year-old man. Additionally, four people were killed in

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

and another in

Vellore Vellore ( ), also spelled Velur, is a sprawling city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River and surrounded by the Javadi Hills in the northeastern ...

. Flooding inundated around 800 acres of farmland in

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam district. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

. The remnant of the cyclone brought torrential rainfall in various districts of

and left a trail of floods. Uthangarai in

Krishnagiri district Krishnagiri District is one of the 38 districts (a district in the northwestern part) of the state of Tamil Nadu, in India. This district is carved out from Dharmapuri District by 2004. The municipal town of Krishnagiri is the district headqu ...

recorded 50 cm of rain in 24 hours. Places such as Mailam (50 cm),Tindivanam (38cm),Kedar (42 cm), Soorapattu (38 cm), Mundiyampakkam (32 cm), Villupuram town (35 cm), Koliyanur (32 cm) and Marakkanam (24.04 cm) in

Viluppuram district Viluppuram, Villupuram or Vizhuppuram is one of the 38 districts that make up the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded on 30 September 1993, prior to which it was part of the Cuddalore district. Vizhuppuram district lies in the way of the ...

Harur Harur is a Second grade municipality in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of two revenue blocks in the district. Geography The town is in northern Tamil Nadu, with an average elevation of 350 meters (1148 feet) ...

(33 cm) in

Dharmapuri district Dharmapuri is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil-Nadu, India. It is the List of districts in Tamil Nadu, first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitting it from then-Salem district on 2 October 1965. ...

, and Thirupalapandal (32 cm) and Madampoondi (31 cm) in

Kallakurichi district Kallakurichi is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarter is Kallakurichi. Kallakurichi District was announced on 8 January 2019 and it came into existence on 26 November 2019. History During Ancient ...

were also affected. Preliminary damage of the cyclone was estimated to be Rs150 crore (US$17.7 million).

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fengal 2024 disasters in India 2024 disasters in Sri Lanka Tropical cyclones in 2024 Tropical cyclones in India Tropical cyclones in Sri Lanka 2024 in India 2024 in Sri Lanka 2024 North Indian Ocean cyclone season November 2024 in India November 2024 in Sri Lanka