NEW DELHI: Heavy rain lashes coastal districts of Tamil Nadu following cyclonic storm named ‘JAL’. The severe cyclone started from Bay of Bengal has moved northwestwards and has weakened into a cyclonic storm. “It lay centered over southwest Bay of Bengal 250 km east-southeast of Chennai and 350 km south-southeast of Nellore”, says metrological department .
In Tamil Nadu, the coastal districts have been experiencing heavy rains for the second consecutive day today. The State Government has declared holiday for schools and colleges. In Chennai, four relief camps have been set up.
The Met office in a release said that the weakend cyclonic storm would move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Chennai and Nellore as a cyclonic storm tonight. But still Chennai and its suburban areas continue to experience rain. As the sea is very rough with a display of high tides now and then, low lying areas of Chennai Tirvallur and Kanchipuram districts are being monitored. Trees have been uprooted and lamp posts have fallen in some places. But most of them have been ramoved. Poondy and Cholavaram which are major supplers of water to Chennai are fast filling up.
In Andhra Pradesh, at least five persons were killed in cyclone affected districts today. State Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha said that two persons were killed in Nellore and Chittoor each while one death reported from Prakasam district. Stating that over 6000 people have been evacuated from low laying areas in 7 coastal districts, he said evacuation operations are continuing. Over 100 relief camps have been set up in the vulnerable districts of the state while district authorities are monitoring the situation round the clock.
Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister K Rosaiah has also reviewed the situation in Hyderabad and directed district authorities to complete evacuation operations in vulnerable villages. Nearly 300 villages have been identified for evacuation in Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and Chittoor districts.