CHENNAI: The vendors at Marina beach became the worst victims of the destructive ‘Vardah’ cyclone when it hit Tamil Nadu coast on Monday. While some shop-owners are busy repairing their shops to restore normalcy, the ferocious wind has left some shops ravaged to such an extent that not a single trace of it is left.
According to the shop owners, around 20 shops have been completely devastated, while 75 per cent of the shops have suffered damage.
SK Dastaqir, owner of a footwear shop, said that 25 per cent of the commodities in his shop were blown away by the cyclone. “Rainwater went inside my shop and spoiled many shoes. If these products get in touch with water then I can’t sell them. For repairing I spent something like `20,000 to `30,000,” he said.
Like Dastaqir, most of the shopowners had spent around `3 lakh in two days for repair work.
Sheikh Raja, a watch seller busy setting up his shop, said that this time he would bring less product. “In two days I have spent around `22,000. The cost for total repairment would range from `2 lakh to `3 lakh.The cyclone completely destroyed the rooftop. The plywood, plastic and tarpaulin flew away with the violent wind,” he said. He bought many products from Parry’s on Tuesday as 50 per cent of his products were damaged.
Listening to the news that another cyclone might hit the State he is bracing up for it and is determined to bring in less product into his shop.
The shop beside Sheikh’s used to be a sticker cum fancy shop. But it has no trace of itself. One can find only remnants of thermocol, broken glasses, stools and a sheet covering it. “The cyclone has completely damaged the shop, nothing is left,” said Sheikh.
Similar was the case for 20 other shops, of which there were a tattoo shop and a juice shop. In the case of a tattoo shop which was severely ravaged, one cannot understand if there was a shop except the hoarding displaying the name of the shop, pictures of tattoo, thermocol smashed on the sand and an oil bottle left on the sand.
Further, Kutti Photo Studio, where the owners had put back the pictures of film stars, proved that it was a studio. “ The laptop, camera, printer, battery everything is damaged. It will cost more than `3 lakh,” he said.