As many as 10 people have succumbed to
the continuous rainfall in many parts of southern districts in the last two
days, disrupting normal life, said Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena.
The senior bureaucrat said the forecast
of heavy rainfall by the India Meteorological Department was also ‘wrong’ as
extremely heavy rainfall was received in the affected districts within two
days.
Ten people have died in Tirunelveli and
Tuticorin districts due to the rainfall. While some lost their lives due to
wall collapse, some died due to electrocution
Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena Said:
The IMD had predicted isolated to heavy,
very heavy to extremely rainfall may occur in one or two places. This is what
the forecast said. But Kayalpattinam (a municipality in Tuticorin district)
received 115 cm rainfall in two days.
Southern districts particularly
Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed record rainfall and flooding.
Kayalpattinam within 30 hours received
1,186 mm of rainfall while Tiruchendur 921 mm. Lot of places in Tuticorin and
those villages which are located on the banks of river Thamirabharani were
affected due to the floods.
Nearly 1,343 personnel from the Central
and State Government agencies including the Navy, Air Force, National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force were involved in the
rescue and relief operation work.
Till date 160 relief camps were set up and
about 17,000 people have been accommodated in these relief camps. About 34,000
food packets have been supplied to people. Still some villages are not
reachable as water level is yet to recede.
Nine helicopters were involved in relief
work and through them 13,500 kg of food packets were supplied to stranded
victims. There is also a possibility for one more helicopter to join the rescue
operation.
Besides, the government is supplying essentials,
including 64,900 litres of milk in Tirunelveli and 30,000 litres in Tuticorin to
the affected people.
Complete supply of milk will be done in
Tuticorin in one or two days and electricity supply has been completely
restored in Kanyakumari and Tenkasi districts.
Many places in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin
are yet to receive full supply of electricity. In Tuticorin district, 40 per
cent of electricity has been restored. Supply of electricity delayed because of
flood water in some of the areas.
With the support of local fishermen,
nearly 323 boats have been deployed to rescue the stranded victims and some
more personnel from neighbouring districts would be deployed for relief work.
After the important task of rescuing
people is completed, damage assessment will be conducted.
PTI
