CHENNAI: Four people died and at least 181 huts were damaged as cyclone Mandous crossed the coast near Mahabalipuram with a wind speed of 75kmph. The storm, which made its landfall on Friday night, had weakened into a well-marked low pressure area by Saturday evening and was hovering over interior Tamil Nadu. “There was no large-scale damage,’ Chief Minister M K Stalin said after visiting fishing hamlets in Chennai and distributing relief assistance to the residents there. The CM credited better preparedness and swift ground teams for the ‘minimal’ cyclone impact.
Stalin said estimation of loss was being carried out and central aid would be sought if needed. About 9,130 people from 3,163 families are being sheltered at 201 relief camps. There was no water stagnation in 22 subways in Chennai.
Extreme to very heavy rainfall were recorded in some weather stations in Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chennai in the range of 15cm to 25cm over the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday.
State likely to witness light to moderate rain from Monday
Vembakkam in Tiruvannamalai topped the list with 25cm rainfall for the period. P Senthamarai Kannan, director, area cyclone warning centre at the regional meteorological centre (RMC), said the weather system will further weaken.
On Sunday, interior districts like Erode, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Theni, Dindigul and Tenkasi may experience heavy rainfall. From December 12 to 14, only light to moderate rain is forecast for the state.
Due to gusty winds that clocked 85 kmph, around 400 trees were uprooted in Chennai of which 150 trees had fallen on streetlights. As many as 25,000 workers were deployed in the field for relief work. Meanwhile, the fully operational weather radars in Chennai and Karaikal have ensured that officials at RMC were well equipped to provide accurate forecasts. The weather system has brought down the state’s rainfall deficit for the season to 2%.
Four die of electrocution, 2 brain dead
Four people died of electrocution and two others were declared brain-dead in rain-related incidents. While a 42-year-old woman and her 25-year-old nephew were electrocuted in Madipakkam after they stepped on a live wire on Friday, two migrant labourers were electrocuted after they came in contact with an overheard cable snapped by an uprooted tree in Sriperumbudur on Saturday. A woman and her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter were declared brain-dead after the wall of nearby house fell on the roof of their house on Friday night in Saidapet | P4