The death toll from Cyclone Fengal’s devastating impact on Sri Lanka and southern India has reached 20 on Monday, as heavy rainfall and flooding followed the storm’s passage after its winds had subsided.
The cyclone made landfall in India’s Tamil Nadu state on Saturday, bringing the highest 24-hour rainfall seen in 30 years to Puducherry, before weakening into a low-pressure system by Monday.
Sri Lanka reported additional fatalities after Fengal skirted the island on Friday, unleashing intense rainfall that triggered landslides. The country’s disaster management agency confirmed that 17 people had died, and nearly 470,000 others were seeking shelter in temporary relief camps.
In India, three people were reported dead from electrocution due to the storm, as confirmed by Tamil Nadu’s disaster management minister, KKSSR Ramachandran. He noted that the overall damage from the cyclone was “minimal” but did not provide further details on the deaths.
Efforts to rescue a family of seven trapped by a landslide in Tamil Nadu were also underway, according to local media reports. Roads in parts of southern India were flooded, and schools were closed, with weather officials issuing warnings of potential flash flooding.
Puducherry, a former French colony on India’s southern coast, experienced its highest 24-hour rainfall in three decades due to Fengal’s impact, as reported by India’s weather department.
Cyclones, which are similar to hurricanes in the North Atlantic and typhoons in the northwestern Pacific, are a regular and dangerous threat in the northern Indian Ocean. However, scientists caution that these storms are becoming more intense as global temperatures rise due to climate change, largely driven by the burning of fossil fuels. Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, which fuels storms, while a warming atmosphere enables them to carry more water, intensifying rainfall.
Despite the growing strength of these storms, advancements in forecasting and evacuation planning have significantly reduced fatalities in recent years.
