MADURAI: Strong wind and intermittent rains battered Pamban on Thursday, damaging 19 huts and reportedly some boats. However, taking stock of the situation in Kanniyakumari, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister RB Udhayakumar urged people to stay put and not panic.
The minister assured that the crisis managers were monitoring the cyclone round the clock. Besides evacuating the people from the danger-prone areas, the officials were monitoring the levels at waterbodies to prevent any spill over, he said. However, there still was no word on the 106 mechanised boats that had not returned to the shore.
In Ramanathapuram, 5,777 people were housed at 75 relief camps in anticipation of the cyclone, which has since turned into a deep depression. Power supply in most parts of the district remained suspended since Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the rains fanned by the deep depression prompted the officials to issue red alerts in many pockets of Thoothukudi. Many parts of the district recorded extremely heavy rainfall. However, allaying fears of any catastrophic event, Thamirabarani PWD Executive Engineer told TNIE that the three major dams in the western ghats have been water deficit -- Papanasam holding 80 per cent, Manimutharu and Servalaru holding 60 per cent of their capacity.
The official said that while the rains would fill the reservoirs to the brim, the possibility of floods is minimal as the rains would last only 24 hours. The official said that the situation in Thamirabarani was both under control and comfortable.
Meanwhile, Udhayakumar said that the relief centres set up by the State could accommodate 1.92 lakh people from the southern districts of Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, and Ramanathapuram. The minister said that the officials were equipped to handle with any exigency. However, sounding caution, the minister advised people to take all possible safety measures and not to venture out of their homes.
He allayed the fears surrounding the fate of Kanniyakumari fishermen yet to return to the shore, saying that they were safe. “The Kanniyakumari fishermen in the sea were informed about the cyclone over satellite phones by the Coastal Security Group personnel and they moved to safer locations,” the minister said.
(Inputs from Rameswaram, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari)