Fog engulfs Chennai city, suburbs, fl ights affected

CHENNAI: The arrival and departure nearly 40fl ights, both international and domestic -- were delayed by close to six hours, due to a dense fog that engulfed the entire city and suburbs this morning. Airport sources said due to poor visibility arrival of more than 15 international fl ights from Dubai, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Colombo were diverted to other centres. The departures of domestic fl ights to various destinationsfrom Chennai were also delayed by more than six hours. The fi rst fl ight from the Chennai Airport took off only around 0955 hrs to Kochi after the weather cleared. The fog was so dense that the horizontal visibility has been reduced to about 50 metres in and around airport causing disruption in fl ight services. In fact the sun came out only around 0830 hrs. Met offi ce sources told media that dense fog in the last week of February was not an unusual one. ‘’During winter period it may occur for one or two days due to anti-cyclone formation over 17 deg north running in east west direction,’’ the source said. Weather offi ce sources said right from Gujarat to West Bengal across Telangana and Coastal Andhra Pradesh, there was reduction in clear sky condition in the early morning hours due to water suspension of air particle over the relatively cooler surface. ‘’This condition will persist for tomorrow, resulting in mist or fog,’’ the source said. They said due to the fog, the horizontal visibility in coastal areas and the airport would normally get reduced to 1000 m. ‘’But due to dense fog, especially over airport, the horizontal visibility has been reduced to 50 metres, leading to diversion of fl ights and delay in departure of several aircrafts,’’ the met offi ce said. The entire city and the suburbs were engulfed by the thick fog affecting visibility and movement of traffi c. Even some of the EMU trains on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram and Chennai Beach-Arakkonam sector were operated slowly due to poor visibility. Though people were gearing up for the ensuing and enduring summer with the day temperatures rising by one or two degrees over the last couple of days, people of this burgeoning metropolis surprisingly, woke up to a thick fog cover. Early birds, who leave for offi ce early morning, had a tough time as the vehicles moved slowly due to poor visibility. Vehicle was seen plying with headlights on at least till 0800hrs on the arterial roads. The extent of the fog was such that the Chennai Central station, one of the famous landmarks in the city, was not visible from the road over bridge situated right opposite to the station at least till 0800 hrs. Meanwhile, airport sources said more than 15 international fl ights, which were scheduled to arrive after 0400 hrs, could not land in Chennai due to fog and bad weather. They were diverted to various cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram. After the weather cleared over Chennai, the fl ights arrived here one by one, suffering a delay of fi ve to six hours. The Dubai-Chennai fl ight was the fi rst to land at 1010 hrs as against its original arrival time of 0500 hrs. On the domestic front, fl ights belonging to various airlines to destinations like Mumbai, Bangalore, Andamans, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Madurai and Kochi could not take off at the scheduled time. They suffered a delay of three to fours hours. The Chennai-London British Airways with 248 passengers on board, which was scheduled to leave at 0520 hours, was delayed by more than four hours due to the foggy weather. The fl ight left for London at 0945 hrs.