Cyclone Thane: Jayalalithaa allots Rs 150 cr for immediate relief

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa on Friday alloted Rs 150 crore for immediate relief measures and directed four ministers to visit the districts which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm 'Thane'.

After chairing a meeting with senior department officials, Jayalalithaa said she had asked her cabinet colleagues B V Ramana, T K M Chinnaiah, K A Jeyapaul and M C Sampath to visit Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts, the worst hit by the storm which crossed the state coast this morning.

She said the sum of Rs 150 crore would be used for immediate relief measures and for restoring basic infrastructure facilities.

Besides, Jayalalithaa also directed the district collectors, deputy collectors and department secretaries to assess the extent of the damage caused by "Thane" and submit a report.

She said hundreds of trees had been uprooted, hampering the flow of traffic. Moreover, hundreds of electric posts have also fallen due to the cyclone, she said, directing officials to remove them by this evening.

She said as a precautionery measure, around 6,000 people living in low lying areas were moved to safer places and power supply had been suspended in Cuddalore, Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts since last night. Four teams from National Disaster Management were also sent to Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Chennai and Tiruvallur districts, she said in a statement here.

Cyclone 'Thane' likely to intensify in the next 12 hours

If you don't have any pressing engagement for the day, you'd best stay at home. For, the weatherman has predicted that severe cyclonic storm Thane is heading right at us. Thane is likely to bring with it strong winds, very heavy rainfall and a high surge of waves.

A Met bulletin said cyclone Thane, situated about 450 km east-south-east of Chennai, is likely to intensify further in the next 12 hours and move in a westerly direction. It is likely to cross the northern Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Chennai near Puducherry Friday morning.

While heavy rains are expected at many places along coastal Tamil Nadu and a few interior parts, the intensity would increase with heavy to very heavy precipitation from Thursday evening.

Squally winds reaching up to 50 to 60 kmph are likely to commence along the coastal districts from Thursday. Gale force wind with a speed of 100 to 110 kmph, gusting to even 125 kmph speed at times, would prevail along northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry at the time of landfall.

Tidal waves with heights of 1.1 metres would inundate low lying areas of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts and Puducherry at the time the storm crosses the coast.

As a precursor, swell waves were reported in many places along the Chennai coastline. Ingress of water was noticed in the Pattinapakkam area where, local fishermen said, huge waves almost reached the service road. The water receded but it left behind a pool. Reports of a likely landfall has made fishermen living along the coast anxious.