Chennai, June 22 -- Residents of Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi experienced a rare tornado-like funnel cloud during a thunderstorm on Sunday, June 21, near the airport area.

The strong winds left at least six people injured and extensive damage in parts of the city. Despite visuals of the storm circulating online, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai has denied claims that it was a tornado.

According to the meteorologists, a strong thunderstorm initially developed over Tamil Nadu due to the presence of an east-west trough (an elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure) roughly 3.1 kilometres above mean sea level. The system resulted in upward-moving air currents, called updrafts, and strong localised winds, and dust lift...