India, June 22 -- A tornado-like storm battered Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district on Sunday with "strong updrafts". While visuals with claims of tornado over Thoothukudi were circulated on social media, the Met department denied the claim.

The video of the tornado-like storm showed a column of wind swirling while clouds covered the sky.

Sharing the video, private weatherman Navdeep Dahiya said on X, "Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu reported Tornado today. A very rare sight from Tamil Nadu. Could be the first one from the state?"

The MeT department explained the rare weather occurrence saying it was not a tornado and reported adverse weather due to presence of an east-west trough extending around 3.1 km above sea level across south Tamil Nadu...