Power supply will be restored in cyclone-hit areas in 2 days:

Chennai: Power supply would be restored in the entire Kanyakumari district, worst hit due to Cyclone Ockhi, in the next couple of days as more than 2,000 people are working overtime to repair uprooted electric posts, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Friday. In a statement after reviewing the post-rain situation in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts, Palaniswami said as many as 1,044 people have been lodged at 16 relief camps in Kanyakumari and 205 people at 2 relief camps in Tirunelveli after having been evacuated from low-lying areas on Thursday.

He also said all steps are being taken to ensure that communicable diseases don’t spread in the rain-affected districts and announced that 28 mobile monsoon special medical committees have rushed to the areas to provide medical assistance to the people. “Due to the high-speed winds, 579 trees were uprooted in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari districts and 329 of them have been cleared. Efforts are being taken on a war footing to remove the remaining trees from National Highways so that traffic is resumed as early as possible”, Palaniswami said in the statement.

 He also said 200 members of the State Disaster Response Force split into 7 groups and 60 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force in two groups are involved in rescue and relief operations in Kanyakumari district alone. “Due to the uprooting of trees, 11 sub-stations with a capacity of 110 KW each have been closed, while 4,000 high tension and low tension lamp posts and 50 transformers have been affected due to rains”, Palaniswami said.

Due to the efforts of 2,000 workers who are working overtime to ensure restoration of power supply, 5 sub-stations have already started power supply, while work on restoring the remaining 6 is in full swing, he said, adding that power supply would be restored in all areas in the next couple of days. With water bodies in all the three districts filling up fast, the Chief Minister said he has instructed officials concerned to monitor them and take enough precautions to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. “106 fishermen have ventured into the sea in 29 boats and 76 of them have been rescued safely and efforts are to locate the remaining fishermen. Two Coast Guard ships have been put into service”, the Chief Minister said.