A tornado-like storm battered Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district on Sunday with strong updrafts, causing widespread damage and injuring six people.
The storm showed a column of wind swirling while clouds covered the sky, with reports of a possible tornado circulating on social media.
However, the Met department denied the claim, explaining that the rare weather occurrence was due to an east-west trough extending around 3.1 km above sea level across south Tamil Nadu.
Director of regional weather forecasting centre, Chennai, VR Durai said the associated convective activity generated localised strong winds, dust lifting, and vigorous updrafts near Thoothukudi airport area.
The gusty winds caused temporary metal roofing sheets to be blown off, falling on workers and members of the public, and visuals showed the scale of destruction and damage caused by strong winds.
