Tamil Nadu battered by rains; south districts flooded

Unprecedented extremely heavy rainfall continues to batter four southern Tamil Nadu districts, including Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, since Sunday, marooning several towns and villages with lakhs of people being confined to their homes and throwing normal life completely out of gear.

Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi district received a whooping 96 cm rainfall in just 24 hours, which is much more than the annual rainfall for the small town, while the average rainfall in the district stood at 38 cm.

The average rainfall in Tirunelveli district is 39 cm in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday, with the Nambiyar Dam area receiving the maximum rainfall of 62 cm. Since the situation is “unprecedented”, the state government has sought the help of the armed forces, whose teams are likely to join the relief and rescue operations soon.

Thamirabarani, the only river that takes birth in Tamil Nadu and flows within the state, its tributaries, and other rivers in the districts are at spate, with over 1 lakh cusecs of water being released from dams, which could further flood the low-lying areas.

“Such extremely heavy rainfall has never occurred in the past. We received an alert from IMD that there could be extremely heavy rainfall which is about 20 cm. But Kayalpattinam alone received 96 cm of rainfall in just 24 hours,” Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena told a press briefing. He said as many as 17 teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) with about 425 personnel have been pressed into service to rescue people living in low-lying areas by using boats.

Meena said as many as 7500 people have been rescued and lodged at about 84 relief centres in Tirunelveli district, while 84 boats have been deployed in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts to rescue people from marooned localities.

“More boats are being sent to Thoothukudi, Srivaikundam, and Kayalpattinam which are among the worst-affected areas,” the top bureaucrat said.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is in Coimbatore, said he was monitoring the situation and coordinating the relief and rescue operations.

The MeT department and independent weather bloggers have predicted that the extremely heavy rainfall will continue till Tuesday. Operations at the Thoothukudi airport came to a standstill even as the district collectorate was flooded.

Southern Railway cancelled several trains to various destinations in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Kanyakumari districts and those passing through these districts, while the National Highway connecting Madurai with Tirunelveli looked like a river with vehicles wading through the flood water.

Reports from southern Tamil Nadu said rain water to the level of five to six feet entered houses in several localities with many taking to social media to seek help from the administration. Several towns have been cut off from the rest of the district due to heavy rains.

The requests on social media included rescue via boats to essentials to milk for children. With Thamirabarani and other rivers at spate, water released from the water bodies were being regulated and increased at regular intervals.

Independent weather blogger Pradeep John said Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi recorded 93 cm rainfall in 24 hours, more than their annual rainfall.

“This is the highest ever rainfall recorded in plains in Tamil Nadu in 24 hours and the second highest rainfall after Manjolai (96.5 cm recorded in 1992),” he said.

Another independent blogger, Srikanth said fresh rain bands will bring moderate to heavy rains over parts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi district. “Interior areas like Tenkasi and Virudhunagar will also see heavy rains in a few places,” he added.