The Neelam storm that was intensifying in Indian Ocean near Tamil Nadu East coast for last few days, crossed land today (Wednesday) near Mamallapuram (50Kms from Chennai) around 5:30PM. At my office, we had closed few hours early today to give people time to reach home early and safe before the storm & sunset. State Government offices too closed early and they even advised private firms to close early for the day. Schools and Colleges were anyway closed for last two days and will remain closed for tomorrow.
As per Tamil News TV channels (thankfully) Neelam storm so far had caused less havoc even in most feared areas of Pondicherry & Cuddalore. In South Chennai, I mostly saw few fallen trees, little drizzling but heavy winds for few hours during & after crossing. Now it is 9:30PM in the evening and its nearly quite here, with very little rain. Power in my street went around 2PM and came back just now, officials had switched off for fear of overhead power-lines falling on streets and proving fatal.