CM Stalin holds review meeting on rains
Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin presided over a meeting to review the rain situation in the southern districts on Saturday and discussed the possible ramifications for the State from the new depression that the Indian Meteorological Department had forecast for Sunday in the Bay of Bengal near the coast of the Andamans.
After his visit to the State Emergency Control Centre at Ezhilagam to discuss the ground situation in the rain hit districts of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tenkasi following the heavy downpour brought about by the bay depression on Friday with the district collectors, the Chief Minister held the meeting at the Secretariat to review the current situation.
Among the major instructions that Stalin gave the district collectors and also the officials who were monitoring the situation in the districts was to keep a close watch over the raising water level in the various dams and reservoirs.
If at all the situation warranted the opening of the reservoirs or the release of excess water from the dams, proper warning should be issued to the people in advance to ensure that they were not taken by surprise and to reduce damage to property.
People living in low lying areas should be evacuated and accommodated in relief camps, the Chief Minister told the Collectors and officials and urged them to gather information relating to crop damage in the districts and also arrange for quick relief.
He also asked the officials to report on the other damages caused by the rains in the southern districts to which three team of the State Disaster Response Force had already been dispatched. One team of the National Disaster Response Force has been stationed at Radhapuram in Tirunelveli district.
Though the State machinery was responding to the havoc wreaked by the rains and the floods in the districts, normal life had been disrupted in many places with crops going under water in many places.