Severe Rainfall Forecasted for Coastal Regions of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry on December 11
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Chennai, Dec 7 (NationPress) The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued a warning of significant to extreme rainfall in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on December 11 and 12.
The areas from Cuddalore to Ramanathapuram are anticipated to experience the worst of these rains, as reported by the RMC.
The meteorological department, in a statement released on Saturday, suggested that a low-pressure system is likely to develop in the Bay of Bengal within the next 12 hours. It is noteworthy that a previous low-pressure system formed over the Bay of Bengal on November 23 escalated into Cyclone Fengal, which wreaked havoc across 14 districts of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Cyclone Fengal made landfall in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry from November 29 to December 1, causing extensive devastation.
This disaster resulted in 12 reported fatalities, with 2,11,139 hectares of agricultural and horticultural lands submerged, leading to significant losses for farmers. Additionally, damage included 1,649 kilometers of electrical lines, 23,664 electric poles, and 997 transformers, as well as 9,576 kilometers of roads, 1,847 culverts, and 417 tanks.
The cyclone also inflicted severe damage to homes, huts, and various infrastructures.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, 69 lakh families and 1.5 crore individuals were significantly affected by the calamity.
Particularly, the districts of Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, and Kallakurichi received over 50 cm of rainfall in just one day, which is equivalent to an entire season’s average, resulting in serious flooding and destruction of crops and infrastructure.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin previously reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, emphasizing the destruction caused by the cyclone.
In his correspondence, he sought immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund as interim relief. Following this appeal, a central inter-ministerial team commenced damage assessments across various districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Tamil Nadu government has provided an initial damage assessment report, estimating a need for Rs 2,475 crore for relief and reconstruction efforts.
The Central government has approved Rs 944 crore as interim relief for the affected regions.
The central team, headed by Rajesh Gupta, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, arrived in Chennai on Friday evening.
The team met with Chief Minister Stalin at the state secretariat and engaged in discussions with senior state government officials and teams conducting surveys in the impacted districts.
