COIMBATORE/THANJAVUR: Rain accompanied by unusually strong gale and thunderstorms uprooted banana plants on several acres, upended electric poles, and snapped power lines in Coimbatore and delta districts on Sunday, leaving thousands of houses without power till Monday afternoon.
In Coimbatore city and neighbouring areas alone, at least 400 localities reported power outage, sources said. Senior electricity board officials said the damage to power infrastructure in Coimbatore city was the worst in last 40 years.
In Thanjavur and Mayiladuthurai districts, harvest-ready banana plantations on at least 100 acres were damaged. Ten villages in Mayiladuthurai district were badly hit, including Alli Vilagam, Sembathaniruppu, Kathiruppu, Ponsei, and Keezhaiyur near Sirkazhi.
In Thanjavur, harvest-ready crops at Thillaisthanam, Perumpuliyur, Sathanur, Konerirajapuram, Achanur, and Vadugakudi were affected, sources said.
M Mathiyazhagan, a banana farmer from Vadugakudi in Thanjavur, said banana plants have either been completely uprooted or damaged. “Farmers spent up to Rs 1.5 lakh per acre for cultivating banana plants. The government should give us a compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre,” he said.
205 transformers report supply interruptions
Officials said there would be around 1,000 trees per acre and compensation would be provided if at least 330 trees are damaged per acre. Only after completing the enumeration, the extent of damage could be ascertained, they said.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited said 13 feeders supplying power from the Kavundampalayam substation of the Coimbatore metro distribution circle was out of power since 7 pm due to fallen trees. The core area of Saibaba Colony, particularly along NSR Road, witnessed significant damage.
Surrounding areas such as Kavundampalayam, Velandipalayam, KK Pudur, and Edayarpalayam, which have dense population, also suffered due the impact of the strong winds. Above 300 locations reported fallen trees and branches, leading to uprooting of EB poles and low-tension (LT) lines, which resulted in power outages affecting more than 15,000 individual connections in Coimbatore city. A total of 205 transformers reported supply interruptions, officials said. While EB employees were working to restore electricity lines, fire and rescue services personnel were engaged in clearing fallen trees and branches.
“In many places, we were not able to enter the area and a large manpower has to be deployed to clear the uprooted trees and broken branches. The electricity lines were restored by 2.20am on Monday,” said an official.