Ahead of the impending cyclone, the authorities in the southwest have declared a holiday, banned public gatherings, closed shops and mobilised thousands of rescue personnel.
The government has identified 4,133 locations that would be affected by Nivar and the District Collectors concerned have been instructed to take special care. The Cyclone relief camps have been set up in 3,344 locations of the state.
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The Centre has deployed as many as 30 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh and 20 additional teams have been kept on standby to assist local authorities on possible evacuations from vulnerable coastal areas.
The authorities have also directed fishermen not to venture into the sea, and the residents in the coastal areas have been evacuated to shelter houses.
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Flights to or from the southern region, mainly Chennai, have been disrupted. IndiGo in a statement said a total of 49 flights that were scheduled for today had been cancelled in the view of Cyclone Nivar. The Southern Railway has also cancelled a number of trains and bus-services in seven districts of Tamil Nadu have been suspended.