After respite, rain batters TN again

Normal life was severely hit in Tamil Nadu due to heavy rain since Thursday morning even as the North East monsoon intensified over the entire region.

After being battered by heavy downpours from last Friday, the state, which started limping back to normalcy, has once again received unprecedented rainfall with weathermen predicting more in the next 24 hours.

“Though the low pressure, which formed last week, has weekend, the heavy rain at present is due to an upper air cyclonic circulation over south west bay of Sri Lanka and Gulf of Mannar coast,” a senior weather official told Deccan Herald. He said the North East monsoon was expected to begin by October 22, but the rainfall occurred over Tamil Nadu three days in advance.

“Heavy rainfall would continue for another two days. As the sea conditions are still rough, fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala were advised not to venture into the sea,” he said.
According to the latest weather bulletin, Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district recorded a maximum of 11 cm rainfall during the last 24 hours followed by Sirkali in Nagapattinam distric, which registered 10 cm rain during the same period.

Meanwhile, the toll due to rain related incidents rose to 15 after a 14-year-old boy was crushed to death by a collapsed wall in Tirunelveli district.

Government sources said due to landslides in different place in Nilgiris district, the traffic on the Ooty and Kundha road was disturbed.

Hundreds of trees were uprooted especially in the coastal districts adding to traffic woes in those areas.  Most of the people in low-lying areas were asked to vacate immediately. Officials from the district administration have reached the spot to carry out rehabilitation works.Relief works are being carried out by government and private organisations round-the-clock on a war-footing.