Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena said on Tuesday that 10 deaths, including seven in Tirunelveli and three in Thoothukudi districts, have been reported so far due to the heavy rain which lashed the southern parts of the state in the last three days.
Meena said of the 10 people who have been reported dead, three died due to wall collapse, four drowned, two were electrocuted, and one is likely to be a natural death.
Meena also called for timely weather forecasts so that they could deal with unexpected extreme heavy rainfall.
The senior bureaucrat’s comment came after Tamil Nadu Minister for Milk and Dairy Development Mano Thangaraj said the unforeseen severity and impact of these events could have been mitigated with more precise and timely forecasts from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and a significant issue was the time discrepancy in the weather alerts.
Meena said “The prediction said ‘isolated, heavy to very rainfall with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places’. As per this forecast, we were prepared for heavy rainfall. Kayalpattinam received 115 cm of rain in two days. No amount of preparation could overcome such heavy rainfall,” he said.
When asked about the power restoration in the affected areas, Meena said, “The power supply in Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari has been restored 100 per cent. In Tirunelveli district, 88 per cent of the distribution transformers have been restored”.
“The remaining 12 per cent of distribution transformers are also ready to supply power but due to water stagnation, we are unable to restore these. But I am sure the power supply will be resumed shortly in Tirunelveli,” he said.
In Thoothukudi, the chief secretary said, the power supply has been restored in 40 per cent of the areas and it will take some time in the remaining areas because of the unprecedented flooding and inundation.
Meena said 160 relief camps have been built in which 16,680 people are taking shelter.
To a question about when the affected people could expect financial relief, Meena said their focus is on rescuing those stranded in the floodwaters. He added Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin would announce the compensation amount after carrying out the damage assessment.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd