SriLankan Airlines cancels all flights to Chennai

SriLankan Airlines today said all its Chennai-bound flights were cancelled till tomorrow morning after authorities issued a red alert due to severe cyclonic storm "Vardah" which made a landfall in Tamil Nadu.

Airlines Spokesman Deepal Perera said that since flight operations at Chennai International Airport have been suspended due to severe weather, SriLankan Airlines had cancelled all its flights till Tuesday morning.

"There has been a red alert issued. Therefore all flights to Chennai will resume only on Tuesday morning," Perera said.

Some Chennai-bound passenger flights were diverted to Colombo owing to a storm.

A Srilankan Airlines flight on its way to Chennai returned to Katunayake while a flight heading to Chennai from Dubai also landed in Katunayake this morning, the Colombo Gazette reported.

Lanka's Department of Meteorology warned residents living along the coastal areas of northern Sri Lanka to be cautious due to heavy winds and rains as the Cyclone "Vardah" was moving away from the island country towards southern India.

However, the department said that disaster management teams were on alert in case of an emergency and officials were continuously monitoring the cyclone pattern.

Heavy rains accompanied by high velocity winds pounded the city and coastal districts of north Tamil Nadu due to severe cyclonic storm "Vardah" which has made a landfall near here.

Hundreds of trees have been uprooted affecting land and air transport throwing normal life out of gear in Tamil Nadu.