More rain to come from storm building over Bay

Chennai: The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) on Thursday forecast another spell of heavy showers next week following formation of a new trough of low pressure. “A new trough of low pressure has formed in South Andaman Sea. It is expected to develop into a low pressure in South Eastern Bay of Bengal on November 14,” RMC Chennai director SR Ramanan told reporters. The weather office in a bulletin warned isolated heavy to very heavy rain over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south coastal Andhra Pradesh from November 16 onwards.

For Chennai and its neighbourhood, Ramanan said that the sky conditions would be generally cloudy with rain or thunder showers in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around 30 and 25 deg Celsius he added.   

Rains continued to lash Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Chembarambakkam, Maduranthagam and Arokonam. Sriperumbudur and Cheyyur both in Kancheepuram district received maximum rainfall of 10 cm on Thursday. Chennai also received intermittent rain resulting in minor water logging later in the day.

Having received copious inflow due to heavy rains, the Maduranthangam reservoir in Kancheepuram district attained its full storage capacity Thursday after a period of seven years. The lake with a spread of 2,416 acres has now reached 22 foot. As a preventive step a flood alert was sounded near the reservoir, a district administration official said. 

Jayalalithaa gets relief work cracking:

With monsoon- related incidents claiming 92 lives across Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday dispatched a battery of senior ministers, led by O. Pannerselvam, to Cuddalore to expedite relief works. She also announced solatium for another 17 victims who died in rain-related incidents. In a statement Jayalalithaa condoled the death of the victims and announced Rs 4 lakh each to their families as assistance from the disaster relief fund.

Senior ministers Natham R. Viswanathan, M. C. Samapth, K. A. Jeyapal and R. B. Udayakumar visited the rain-affected areas and held discussions with the public. After hearing the public, they directed officials to carry out relief measures,  including restoring supply of power and drinking water, on a ‘war-footing’. There were incidents of public demanding compensation and in a few pockets  farmers gheraoed government officials seeking compensation for crop loss and damage to huts.  “Incessant rain had severely damaged standing crops in Chidambaram and Panruti and farmers are in a state of disaster,” Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi founder T.Velmurugan said. In a statement he also said the Centre should declare Cuddalore as “disaster-affected district” with a relief package of Rs 1,000 crore.

Earlier in the day, Collector Suresh Kumar, TWAD board managing director  Vijayakumar and TNEB chairman Saikumar also inspected rain-hit areas and directed field officials to complete the infrastructure restoration by Friday. The officials also pacified the agitating public and said a report on rain-related damage will be sent to the state for compensation and relief.

Infra worth Rs 500 crore lost due to downpour:

Heavy rain that ravaged Cuddalore and other parts of the state has eroded infrastructure worth over Rs 500 crore. While power transformers, roads and tank breaches are the major expenses, crop damage is yet to be ascertained, a senior official.  Roads remain the  worst hit in recent rain. State highways and interior roads in Cuddalore and the highway connecting Yercaud and Salem are badly damaged. Highways department will be ascertaining the damage. The cost for complete restoration of roads will easily cross Rs 200 crore in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Cuddalore districts, the official added.

Road repairs are being carried out on a war footing and 23 hairpin bends that recorded land-slides are being cleared for traffic, Salem collector V. Sampath, who is now camping at Yeracud, told DC. So far, power has been restored in all pockets except six villages, he said adding that funds and machinery were not a problem. The collector has also formed a disaster management cell led by local tashildars to ascertain rain damage. The public can lodge their grievances at a toll free helpline 1077, Salem collectorate sources said adding 122 rain-hit roads have been identified for repair works in Salem.  

“The district administration is currently focused on restoring power connection to the last set of remote villages. Friday, Cuddalore will be normal and only after that the revenue, rural development, highways and local bodies will evaluate the total loss due to rains”, rural development secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, who was dispatched to expedite relief work told DC. 

“In a phased manner,  traffic has been restored in all major main roads connecting Cuddalore-Chidambaram and Vadalur-Kumbakonam and to prevent any epidemic outbreak 45 medical teams are camping in the district” he said adding that when Thane cyclone hit Cuddalore and Villupuram in 2011, the state immediately pumped in more than Rs 1,000 crore to carry out relief and later spent more on infrastructure development. However, the current situation is not that alarming, Bedi pointed out.

Agriculture secretary Rajesh Lakhoni who camped in the inundated areas of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri on Tuesday and Wednesday has directed his department to look into the problem of water logging. The authorities have taken steps to drain surplus rain water into Sathanur dam to reduce crop loss.

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