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Posted on 30 October 2012
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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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TAMIL NADU |
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TN, AP brace for cyclone Nilam, disaster relief force in readiness
State administration takes stock of situation, impending power cuts and state holiday on the cards
Sanjay Pinto
Chennai
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Image released by the Indian Meteorological Department
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As cyclonic storm “Nilam” lurches about 450 km south-south east of Chennai and 100 km North-north east of Trincomalee on Tuesday afternoon, Veeraswamy removes his fishing net from the sands of the Marina Beach. A television channel microphone is almost thrust into his face. “Are you scared?” a young reporter asks the 45-year-old fisherman. “I’ve seen the tsunami. I’ve seen so many cyclones. Tomorrow will be just another day. Just that the government has instructed us not to go fishing,” says Veeraswamy.
A few kilometres away, at the Tamil Nadu secretariat, a high level meeting of key officials from the health, municipal administration, revenue, fire & rescue and police departments is on to give final touches to the contingency plan. Having overseen the tsunami reconstruction work as collectors of the worst hit districts like Nagapattinam, many of these officials such as health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan sports a ‘been there, done that’ air of confidence. On the table is the latest report from the Area Cyclone Warning Centre that reads: “The system would intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move westwards for some more time and come very close to Sri Lanka coast and then move north westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nagapattinam and Nellore by Wednesday afternoon.”
K Ramanujam, director general of police, Tamil Nadu, says, “Police and teams from the Home Guards have been mobilised. Coastal SPs have been asked to muster boats and equipment for rescue and relief. The State Disaster Response Force under the ADGP Operations is kept in readiness.”
Tamil Nadu has seen 34 deaths in the last fortnight since the onset of the North East monsoon. Most of the deaths have been due to electrocution at home or while wading through stagnant water, lightning or wall collapses. But the present weather forecast that stems from the cyclone warning has kept the administration on its toes. The met office has warned of “heavy to extremely heavy rainfall” upto 25 cm or more besides strong winds reaching upto 45—55 kmph of speed and further increasing to 65 kmph off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during next 12 hours.
“The wind speed would gradually increase thereafter as the system comes closer to the coast. The sea will be rough during the next 48 hours,” said sources. At landfall, windspeeds could go up to 100 kilometres per hour. The respite from the downpour in the last few days has given the civic authorities a breather. A senior official recalls “21 cms of rain in Chennai in just 2 hours on 26 October, 2005. So the worry is not about the amount of rainfall that’s expected, but the squalls that could uproot trees and cause damage to buildings.”
As the warnings close in, it seems northern parts of Tamil Nadu are meant to bear the brunt of Nilam’s fury. Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur as well as Puducherry, Nagapattinam and Nellore districts in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh are likely to be inundated. All educational institutions were closed on Tuesday and a holiday is likely to be announced for Wednesday too.
Chennai Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan, who has seen three monsoons during his tenure, says the civic body is “fully geared up”. The top official and his team are all set to stay overnight at their offices to supervise relief work. “We have kept 280 corporation schools ready in case there is a need to evacuate people in low lying areas. As of now, we have not evacuated anyone. Four community kitchens are also ready. We have boats, motors to pump out water and equipment to remove fallen trees swiftly.” Nagapattinam collector Munnuswamy says his district has “21 cyclone relief shelters ready” and all arrangements are in place. Chennai, which is still in the process of completing the construction of storm water drains across the city, has huge trenches dug up and uncovered — a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Tamil Nadu has already seen 37 dengue related deaths and hundreds of reported cases. The official adds that, “What’s expected after the cyclone is more scary compared to what’s likely during the cyclone.”
Harikumar, a resident of Coimbatore, says about the impending power failure, “See, we already face power cuts of upto 12 hours regularly. A black out due to the cyclone will make no difference! Our only concern is our school going children and the late announcements about whether their schools will be closed or not.”
Chennai resident Manoj says, "I'm glued to the TV for the weather report. Not on cyclone Nilam, but on hurricane Sandy!"
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