The historic floods, which paralysed four southern districts in Tamil Nadu causing widespread devastation particularly in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts, have so far claimed 10 lives and destroyed crops on thousands of acres of fields, besides causing extensive damage to road and rail infrastructure and thousands of houses and commercial establishments.
10 people killed in the 2 districts
Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena said 10 people were killed in the two districts. Some bodies were found floating in the stagnated waters. Reports from the ground indicated that the toll could be higher given that help was yet to reach many interior areas which remained cut off from the main land.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the devastation on Tuesday, said this was historical rainfall and the Government received the warning a bit late. However, it was undertaken all relief and rescue measures. Stalin wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging him to deploy more helicopters to aid rescue and relief operations. As of Tuesday morning, eight helicopters including four from the Air Force, 2 from the Navy and 2 from the Coast Guard were deployed.
Governor R N Ravi held emergency meeting at Raj Bhavan
Separately, Governor R N Ravi held an emergency meeting at Raj Bhavan with officials of central agencies on the rescue operations in the two districts.
Meanwhile, help finally reached over 500 passengers who were stranded on board a train at the Srivaikuntam Railway Station since Sunday night after 36 hours. Food was sent to the passengers via a helicopter in a limited measure.
“The water had receded to an extent. Though the station remained cut off, Railway Protection Force personnel from Tirunelveli managed to reach the station at around 8.40 am on Tuesday to touch base with the passengers,” said a district official.
RPF and villagers help the passengers
The RPF personnel, waded through flood water, and distributed food to a section of the passengers. Following this an Indian Air Force helicopter, guided by the RPF personnel with a red flag, dropped food packets. “A NDRF team was also guided to the station,” said the official adding evacuation efforts were undertaken.
Villagers from the nearby areas too reached the passengers and helped them. “The villagers are the real heroes. They reached here first overcoming hardship. They had lost their belongings but still came here to give us whatever little food they had,” a woman passengers told a Tamil television news channel.
The Southern Railway Madurai Division has kept ready a special train with 18 coaches at Vanchimaniyachchi junction to take the passengers once they are evacuated.
IAF chopper airlifts pregnant woman
Meanwhile, in the same Srivaikuntam town an IAF chopper airlifted a pregnant woman Anusuya, who was in labour, from the terrace of a relative’s house. She was stranded on the terrace since two days with her infant child, mother and husband. “We spotted the helicopter and wrote on a paper indicating we had to go to hospital. The chopper circled and the airlifted all four of us,” Anusuya’s mother-in-law said,
Elsewhere in the southern districts massive relief and rehabilitation efforts were on at multiple levels.
By late evening, all the stranded Chennai-bound train passengers at Srivaikuntam station were rescued. They were being taken on buses to the Vanchimaniyachi railway station. The passengers will board a special train to reach their Chennai by Wednesday morning.
