December 1, 2017
Dreaded December descended upon Chennai and Tamil Nadu with heavy rain battering southern districts of the state and the capital city on Thursday night and the little hours of Friday. Administration took no chances and declared holiday for schools and colleges amid predictions of more rain today and tomorrow in different parts of Tamil Nadu.
It was in December 2015 that heavy rain in Chennai and adjoining districts caused heavy flooding leading to loss of human lives as also heavy damage to property. According to reports reaching here, life in southern-most tip – Kanyakumari, some 700 km from here – was thrown completely out of gear and thousands of affected people were shifted to relief camps. The heavy rain is due to Ockhi cyclone during the last couple of days. Already nine lives have been lost. Chief Minister Edapaddi Palanisami had declared a solatium to the families of the deceased.
National and state disaster relief teams are in place in all the southern districts and in Chennai, which is expecting more rain in the coming days and week. In Kanyakumari district, SDRF and NDRF are involved in rescue and relief operations.
As the rain eased a bit, for a brief while, the officials were counting losses. At a rough estimate, in Kanyakumari district alone 4,000 electric poles have twisted and fallen down due to the strong surface winds that accompanied the heavy rain due to cyclone. Work is on at a furious pace to get the electricity back in homes at the earliest. Another problem was that of uprooted trees causing severe obstruction to vehicular movement.
Rural Kanyakumari is facing the brunt of the cyclone that passed by. Several villages are marooned.
Met office in Chennai said that cyclone Ockhi is expected to cross Andaman Islands in the next 24 hours.
For Tamil Nadu, more rain is coming its way. A strong depression in the Andaman region is expected to intensify and move towards South Tamil Nadu or North Andhra Pradesh over the next three or four days.
In Tamil Nadu heavy to very heavy rain is predicted in Theni, Dindugul, Coimbatore and Nilgiri regions over the next 24 hours.Fishermen across Tamil Nadu have been advised against going out into the sea for fishing.