Chennai: Heavy rains lashed southern Tamil Nadu on Sunday, inundating several areas of Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi districts, forcing the cancellation of train services including Vande Bharat to these districts and those passing to neighbouring Kerala via them on Monday. More rains have been predicted for southern districts by the weather bureau.
Vande Bharat, trains cancelled- Vande Bharat trains plying between Tirunelveli and Chennai have been cancelled due to heavy rains, according to a notification issued by the Southern Railway. The other trains cancelled due to rains are Guruvayur Express originating from Chennai, Tiruchirappalli - Thiruvananthapuram Express, Nagercoil - Coimbatore Express, Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur passenger, and Nizamuddin - Kanniyakumari Express.
Coupled with the extreme rain, the unprecedented heavy discharge of 1.25 lakh cusecs from reservoirs into the river Tamiraparani had swamped the twin cities of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai. The situation is no different in Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi districts which also remain cut off due to roads and railway tracks being submerged under water in many places.
Many trains to Thoothukudi and those passing through Tirunelveli and Nagercoil have been cancelled while the Ananthapuri Express has been diverted on the Palani route. Bus services too remain suspended. Further, a public holiday has been declared in these districts.
It is ironic that only a few weeks ago farmers demanded that parts of Tirunelveli be declared drought-hit and submitted petitions to the District Collector and the administration was maintaining the storage in the reservoirs for drinking water purposes. Now, with the dams receiving copious inflow the cumulative discharge into Tamiraparani from Manimuthar Dam, Papanasam Dam, Servalar Dam has reached 1.25 lakh cusecs.
With extremely heavy rains expected in the four districts, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said the red alert issued to them continues. Rainfall on a single day in some of the places will indicate the extent of nature's fury. Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi district received 93.2 cm rainfall. Other places which recorded high rainfall: Tiruchendur (67 cm), Srivaikuntam (61 cm), Kovilpatti (52 cm) Palayamkottai (44 cm) and Ambasamudram (43 cm).
Pearl City Express has been partially cancelled with it being stopped at Kovilpatti Junction. Chennai Egmore - Quilon Express Train has been stopped at Virudhunagar while Tambaram - Nagercoil Express at Kodaikanal Road station.
Sources from the transport department said the bus services to the said three districts have been halted from other divisions. Intra-district services run by the regional transport corporations too have been stopped due to heavy flooding.
Surplus water released from dams- The water level in the Thamirabarani River is being continuously monitored by the Water Resources Department. As the river is in spate, Chief Minister MK Stalin ordered the release of surplus water into the Kannadian channel, marking a dry run under a river-linking project in southern Tamil Nadu. Stalin dispatched his cabinet colleagues to the rain-hit districts for oversight and to drive the relief work.
Meanwhile, surplus water is being released from the Pechiparai, Perunjani and Papanasam dams and alert messages (SMS) have been sent to over two lakh local people.
What brought rain? A regional weather office bulletin said a cyclonic circulation is now seen over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood, extending up to mid-tropospheric levels. It was in the lower tropospheric levels over the equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal off the south Sri Lanka coast, on Saturday. The circulation brought heavy to very heavy rains from December 16 to December 17 morning, to Thoothukdi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Tenkasi districts.
Schools, colleges closed- While water entered houses in low-lying areas and thousands of vehicles were stranded in view of flooding in several regions in southern districts, water logging was reported on the premises of a few hospitals as well. The administrations have declared a holiday for schools and colleges. National and State Disaster Response Force teams have been deployed. Local authorities and police made arrangements for evacuating people from flooded and vulnerable areas to relief centres.
Senior IAS officers appointed for relief work- The Tamil Nadu government has appointed four senior IAS officers to expedite relief work in the four districts and coordinate with all departments. Four more officials were pressed into service by the government to carry out the relief-related work.
Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena who chaired a virtual meeting with district collectors of southern districts, directed them to take appropriate preventive steps to mitigate the damage caused by the heavy rains.
Isolated heavy rains were witnessed in Kanniyakumari, Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts. Nalumukku area in Tirunelveli district reported the highest rainfall of 19 cm during this period.
More rains predicted for Monday- The Regional Meteorological Centre(RMC) has forecast heavy to very heavy rain at one or two places in Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tenkasi districts and light to moderate rain at many places in south Tamil Nadu.
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