Massive downpour since Sunday and flooding in Southern Tamil Nadu have left 10 people dead and around 12,600 moved to the safety of 141 camps as rescue and relief operations were undertaken on Tuesday in Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari districts.
Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena confirmed the deaths since it began raining Sunday. He said around 1,343 personnel from central and state government agencies were involved in the rescue and relief operation work.“About 34,000 food packets have been supplied to people and even now, we cannot reach some villages as water level is yet to recede,” he said.
The state government has readied over 85,000 food packets Tuesday evening for distribution. All 809 passengers stranded at the heavily flooded Srivaikuntam near Thoothukudi in southern Tamil Nadu were rescued Tuesday, Southern Railway said. By Tuesday evening, of the 809 passengers, 509 were evacuated from the Srivaikuntam Railway Station. They were taken by buses to 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 moved out on their own as most of them were from nearby places. “The remaining 30 passengers are also being evacuated with the help of RPF and they will be moved by road to Maniyachhi Station,” a Southern Railway release said.
Three IAF choppers air-dropped food packets and water to the stranded passengers, who waded through water which was below knee level for about 3 km.
The release said on December 17, (21.19 hours), the passengers of express train No 20606 (Tiruchendur-Chennai Egmore, Chendur Express) ‘remained stranded’ at Srivaikuntam Railway Station and a school nearby.
The train had to be ‘terminated at the station’ due to unsafe track conditions ahead. Due to the ‘extreme speed of water currents’ and breaches en route, no rescue team could reach the location on Monday.
Among those camping in the flood-hit areas are 9 ministers and two dozen senior bureaucrats while over 300 wireless sets have been dispatched from Chennai for the police to coordinate relief works in villages as almost the entire Thoothukudi area continues to face power and communication outage. Over 300 boats have been pressed in for the operations.
Governor R N Ravi convened a high-level meeting at Raj Bhavan Tuesday, which was attended by top officials from various central government departments, including the defence forces and the National Disaster Response Force, to discuss strategies for relief and rescue operations.
A defence official told The Indian Express that around 168 army personnel are involved in the operations Tuesday. On Tuesday, 4 helicopters from the IAF, two each from the Navy and Coast Guard were engaged in the operations. State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said efforts were on to restore power, particularly in hospitals and government offices. —With PTI inputs
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