Army airdrops food to flood-hit Cuddalore

CUDDALORE/TIRUCHI: Cyclone Nisha, which brushed past Tamil Nadu coast near Karaikal in Puducherry brought in its wake destruction and death, taking the toll due to heavy rains in the last four days to 51.
With rains lashing several districts in the north and the delta districts, several villages and vast acreage of crops have gone under sheets of water. The Cuddalore district administration has declared 126 revenue villages as rain-hit and has set up 96 relief centres to house the displaced.
A team of 40 commandos from the defence base at Arakkonam assisted in relief activities, including air-dropping of food packets in Thirunaraiyur and Nandimugam in Cuddalore district. The commandos rescued people trapped in flood-hit regions in the two hamlets with the help of 21 boats.
Meanwhile, in the delta districts, the cyclone left a trail of damage, isolating submerged villages from rest of the state. Orthanadu in Thanjavur received record rainfall of 65 cm in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Thursday. According to officials 1.24 lakh hectares of paddy crops were submerged in Thanjavur district and 70,000 people were evacuated to safer places.
The state government has urged the Centre to despatch a team to assess the damage caused by heavy rains. Announcing a Rs 100-crore relief package in the first phase, chief minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday said immediate relief works would be taken up in the flood-hit coastal districts across the state.
Chief secretary K S Sripathi said as many as 1.35 lakh people had been affected in 1,380 revenue villages. A total of 54,525 people had been provided shelter in relief camps. Nearly 1,000 huts had been damaged completely and 2,000 huts partially.
The government had provided food packets to more than a lakh people and the administration had opened up 242 relief centres. Karunanidhi announced that Rs 1 lakh each would be given as solatium to relatives of those killed in rain-related incidents. About Rs 2,000 would be given as compensation to the huts that were damaged fully or partially.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Veeranam lake in Cuddalore district touched 46.5 feet and administration ordered that water be released and people living in vulnerable areas around the lake be evacuated to safer places. Similarly Villupuram district administration also directed for the immediate release of water from Manimuktha and Komugi dams and alerted those residing in vulnerable villages to move to safer locations.