The Chennai airport on Wednesday cancelled 12 departure and 12 arrival flights from and to Chennai in the wake of cyclone Nivar, news agency ANI reported. Besides this, Southern Railways has cancelled seven trains for November 26.

The South-Western Railways also announced the cancellation of two trains that were scheduled for November 25 in view of cyclone Nivar.

Also read: How severely can Cyclone ‘Nivar’ damage Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu BJP chief L Murugan announced that programmes under Vetrivel Yatra, which started on November 6, has been cancelled at Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur & two other places on Wednesday.

Puducherry has already imposed Section 144 in all the regions of UT till November 26 and Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday declared a statewide public holiday on Wednesday in view of cyclone ‘Nivar’.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that severe cyclonic storm ‘Nivar’ will intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm over the next 12 hours and cross the coast between Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Wednesday midnight or early Thursday.

The Indian Army is ready to combat the impact of cyclonic storm ‘Nivar’ and will assist the administration in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Chennai’s Met Department has warned that heavy rain is likely to occur at a few places over Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvallur, Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu.

“Scattered heavy to very heavy rain likely at isolated places over Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Myladuthirai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Kallakurchi, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal,” it said.