Cyclone Michaung: Man misses Chennai-Mumbai flight, gets stuck in lift for 30 minutes

Cyclone Michaung updates: Suryanarayan Ganesh was later rescued by other residents after being stuck in the lift for half an hour. (Image credit: @gsurya/X)

Suryanarayan Ganesh had an early morning flight to catch from Chennai airport on Monday. The Sweden-based nature enthusiast and photographer had an important meeting in Mumbai that he was intent on attending despite warnings about the incoming Cyclone Michaung from the authorities. But his morning turned out to be "crazy" after he ended up missing his flight and then getting stuck in the elevator of his Chennai home for about half an hour.

Taking to X, Suryanarayan shared that the day started with obstacles after his Uber driver could not reach the pick-up location due to the flooding caused by relentless rains.

"Crazy morning! Cyclone Michuang in Chennai, Uber couldn’t reach our apartments due to flooding, missed the flight to Mumbai, and then when returning home - had a power cut - so stuck in the elevator for half an hour before being rescued by society people," he wrote on X.

Crazy morning! #CycloneMichuang in #chennai, Uber couldn’t reach our apartments due to flooding, missed flight to Mumbai & then when returning home - had a power cut - so stuck in elevator for half an hour before being rescued by society people. #ChennaiRains #ChennaiFloods pic.twitter.com/I1yu3BRt7N

— Suryanarayan Ganesh (@gsurya) December 3, 2023

When asked by an X user why he chose to step out instead of staying indoors during the cyclone, Suryanarayan said, "Big client meeting in Mumbai."

He also lauded his Uber driver for trying his best to help him reach the airport.

Special shoutout to @Uber_India driver Prakash - absolute hero - tried to get to me for half hour through various routes driving almost 10 kms before I gave up, he didn’t. Do rate / reward him well, I did send a tip via GPay. App should allow rating / tips even for cancellation. pic.twitter.com/2seB9zdN4C

— Suryanarayan Ganesh (@gsurya) December 3, 2023

But Suryanarayan didn't appear to get the same amount of help from his airline Air India.

"On the other hand, and of course, Air India support is as bad as ever -- I call them more than an hour before the flight to tell them that I can’t reach the airport due to the cyclone -- and they tell me they can’t do anything. Any change or cancellation is only to be done at the airport!" he said.

Suryanarayan's tweet garnered more than 2 lakh views with people commenting on how they found the episode with the lift "scary" and advising him to stay indoors amid such weather conditions.

"Omg! This is scary. Stay safe," commented one user on X, while another said, "The lift part is your fault to be honest, being cautious is important during these times. Not having an emergency backup on the lift to stop on the next floor seems to be a poorly designed system on the lift system. All flights are either cancelled or continuously delayed from what I see."

A third user added, "No matter what's important work always follow weather updates or at least follow many handles in X to get updates on the weather. Don't venture out it's not safe."

Read more: Chennai: Boats are out as heavy rains pound city amid Cylone Michaung. Watch