Storm surge vulnerability along Chennai–Cuddalore coast due to a severe cyclone THANE

A very severe cyclonic storm ‘Thane’ developed over the Bay of Bengal during 25–30 December 2011, crossed the Tamilnadu coast between Pondicherry and Cuddalore (southeast coast of India) in early hours of 30 December with a wind speed 120–140 km/h. The offshore tide record reveals that the surge started to generate around 1100 hours on 29 December 2011 with a height 0.4 m and later raised to 0.68 m at the time of land fall, that is, early hours (0000 hours) of 30 December 2011. Field reconnaissance survey on surge run-up and inundation distance at 15 selected locations of cyclone affected areas reveals that the vulnerability levels are highly variable along the coast. The inundation distance extended up to 30–230 m landward from the shoreline and run-up reached to 1.6–3.2 m above chart datum depending upon the cross-shore geometry of the location. In the areas (Verranampattinam, Chinamudaliyar kuppam and Silver beach) near cyclone landfall, the run-up was up to 2.5–3.2 m and the inundation distance extended up to a maximum of 230 m. However, in the areas located about 150 km north of cyclone landfall, the run-up limited from 1.6 to 1.7 m and the inundation distance extended up to only a maximum of 169 m. The inundation distance is mainly influenced by the slope of the beach. In the areas having beach slope between 1 in 135 and 1 in 220, the inundation distance was 210–230 m. However, in the areas having beach slope 1 in 17 to 1 in 34, the inundation distance is restricted between 35 and 50 m.