Tamil Nadu rains: 10 dead; central team to visit affected districts today

An inter-ministerial central team is likely to visit Tamil Nadu on Wednesday (December 20) to assess the damage caused by unprecedented flooding and rainfall in four southern districts over the last two days.

Chief Minister M K Stalin who was supposed to inspect the flood-hit regions on Wednesday, would visit on Thursday, the government said.

As many as 10 people have lost their lives in the record rainfall that occurred on December 17 and 18, wreaking havoc in several parts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari districts.

Kayalpattinam (a municipality in Tuticorin district) received the highest amount of 1,192 mm of rains in two days while Tiruchendur received 916 mm. Chief Minister Stalin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday and sought an interim relief of ₹2,000 crore for rain battered districts to bolster ongoing rescue efforts.

Ahead of his meeting with the prime minister, Stalin told reporters that he would visit Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts today.

However, an official release issued on Tuesday (December 19) night said as local administrations were expected to be present in the affected districts owing to the central team's visit on Wednesday, the chief minister would arrive in Madurai on Thursday night. He is expected to visit Tuticorin on Thursday, the release said.

Recue ops on, trains cancelled

The central and state government agencies, including Army, Navy, Air Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF are currently engaged in relief and rehabilitation works.

Nine helicopters along with 323 boats were also involved in the rescue operation. Meanwhile, the Southern Railway has cancelled nearly 19 trains due to waterlogging in the rain affected districts on Wednesday while rail traffic through Tirunelveli attained normalcy after the Tirunelveli yard was declared fit for train movement.

The local administrations of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin, the worst affected districts, are taking all measures to ensure supply of essentials while electricity connections to residences and commercial establishments are expected to be completely restored in a day or two.

Stranded train passengers rescued

A coordinated effort helped tackle one of the biggest challenges ahead of the state – to rescue train passengers who were stuck in coastal Thoothukudi district. All the 809 train passengers stranded at the heavily flooded Srivaikuntam station were rescued on Tuesday, Southern Railway said.

By Tuesday evening, out of the 809 passengers, 509 people were airlifted from the Srivaikuntam Railway Station. They were taken to nearby Vanchi Maniyacchi Railway station from where a special train is set to take them to Chennai. Of the 300 other train passengers who were accommodated at a school in Srivaikuntam, 270 passengers moved out on their own as most of them belonged to the nearby places.

State not sufficiently forewarned: TN govt

Indicating that the state was not sufficiently forewarned of what was coming, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena said on Tuesday that the forecast of heavy rainfall by India Meteorological Department (IMD) was 'wrong' as extremely heavy rainfall was received in the affected districts within a short period of 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," he told reporters at the Secretariat.

Observing that the forecast by the IMD turned out to be 'wrong', he 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." He said southern districts particularly Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed record rainfall and flooding that was unprecedented and historic.