Heavy rains predicted in coastal districts of TN & Puducherry on Dec 11

Chennai : The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued a warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on December 11 and 12.

The districts from Cuddalore to Ramanathapuram are expected to bear the brunt of these rains, according to the RMC.

The weather department, in a statement released on Saturday, indicated that a low-pressure area is likely to form in the Bay of Bengal within the next 12 hours. It may be recalled that a low-pressure area formed over the Bay of Bengal on November 23 had developed into a Cyclonic storm -Fengal which caused massive destructions in around 14 districts of Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry.

Cyclone Fengal, which struck Tamil Nadu and Puducherry from November 29 to December 1, caused widespread destruction.

The calamity resulted in the loss of lives with 12 deaths reported, 2,11,139 hectares of agricultural and horticultural land inundated leading to major losses for farmers, damage to 1,649 kilometres of electric conductors, 23,664 electric poles, and 997 transformers, 9,576 kilometres of roads, 1,847 culverts, and 417 tanks were damaged.

The cyclone also caused extensive damage to houses, huts, and other infrastructure.

According to the Tamil Nadu government, 69 lakh families and 1.5 crore individuals were adversely affected by the disaster.

In particular, the districts of Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, and Kallakurichi received over 50 cm of rainfall in a single day - equivalent to an entire season’s average - leading to severe flooding and damage to crops and infrastructure.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the devastation caused by the cyclone.

In his letter, he requested immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund as interim relief. Following this request, an inter-ministerial central team has begun assessing the damage across various districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The Tamil Nadu government has submitted an initial damage assessment report, estimating the requirement of Rs 2,475 crore for relief and reconstruction.

The Central government has sanctioned Rs 944 crore as interim relief for the flood-affected regions.

The central team, led by Rajesh Gupta, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, arrived in Chennai on Friday evening.

The team met with Chief Minister Stalin at the state secretariat and held discussions with senior state government officials and teams that are undertaking surveys in the affected districts.