Cyclone ‘Michaung’ impact: Foxconn halts Apple iPhone production at plant near Chennai

Cyclone ‘Michaung’ update: Foxconn, the iPhone maker, has not decided whether it will resume Apple iPhone production on Tuesday.

Taiwanese firm Foxconn on Monday stopped the production of Apple iPhones at its facility near Chennai due to heavy rains, triggered by the Cyclone 'Michaung'.

A man wades through a waterlogged road during heavy rain owing to Cyclone Michaung, in Chennai,(PTI)

The iPhone maker has not decided whether it will resume production on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Foxconn has been manufacturing iPhones at its plant in Sriperumbudur since August.

Heavy rain threw life out of gear in Chennai and neighbouring districts in Tamil Nadu. Streets are waterlogged, airport runways and railway tracks are submerged due to the rain amid cyclonic storm ‘Michaung’ which lay near Chennai and Puducherry.

Cyclone Michaung LIVE coverage

Several parts of Chennai and the adjoining districts of Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur were inundated even as the government machinery was deployed to clear the stagnant water and inundation.

The MK Stalin government has ordered the closure of all educational institutions in Chennai on Tuesday due to anticipated heavy rainfall.

The state government has urged private companies to allow their employees to work from home in affected regions on December 5.

However, all essential services, such as police, fire service, local bodies, milk supply, water supply, hospitals/medical shops, power supply, transport, fuel outlets, hotels/restaurants, and offices engaged in disaster response, relief and rescue activities shall function as usual.

In Chennai, cabinet ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin and Ma Subramanian visited the affected areas and oversaw the relief activities. Ten teams comprising 250 NDRF personnel have been deployed for rescue efforts in affected districts.

The Chennai airport operations were suspended from 9.40 am to 11 pm. As many as 70 flights arriving to and departing from the airport were cancelled owing to non-stop rains. The runway and tarmac also remain shut due to waterlogging, the Airport Authority of India was quoted by PTI as saying.

(With Reuters, PTI inputs)