Cyclone Fengal has started making landfall near Tamil Nadu's Puducherry at 5:30 PM on Saturday and it will take nearly four hours to complete. As a pre-emptive measure, the state government appealed to people to stay indoors and declared November 30 a holiday for educational institutions as a precautionary measure.

Cyclone Fengal, which made landfall near Puducherry on November 30, remained stationary near the union territory and would gradually weaken in the next three hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

The cyclonic storm has progressed towards Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts and is making landfall near Puducherry, an IMD official said. A red alert has been issued for 10 districts of Tamil Nadu.

Northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry continue to experience a flood-like situation, with gusty winds and heavy rainfall.

According to IMD, Cyclone Fengal, which had been stationary over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, was classified as a cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 65-70 km/hr

The cyclone is expected to cross north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram around 30 November morning as a depression with a wind speed of 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph.

In anticipation of Cyclone Fengal and heavy rain, schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram district are closed. The India Meteorological Department warns of significant rainfall and strong winds as the cyclone nears landfall,

Normal life was paralysed in Chennai, its neighboring districts, parts of northern Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry on Saturday as cyclonic storm Fengal (pronounced as Feinjal) lay centered about 50 km southeast of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram).

Cyclonic storm Fengal commenced its landfall process close to Puducherry and it may approximately take 4 hours for it to cross the coast completely, PTI reported, citing an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official on Saturday.