12 people dead in Tamil Nadu rains, says Revenue Minister

Chennai, Nov 10 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran has said that 12 people have died in various parts of the state due to heavy rain in the past three days. He said that 11 companies of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 7 companies of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the rain-affected areas.

The minister told IANS on Wednesday: "The government is ready to face any eventuality due to rain and has already deployed 11 teams of NDRF in various parts of Chennai and adjoining districts while 7 companies of the State Disaster Response Force are ready to join the operations. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea following the IMD alert for the next three days and all 33,773 boats that were in the sea off Tamil Nadu coast are back home and no boat is in the sea now."

The minister added that the state government has already mobilised 1.05 lakh volunteers including swimmers, snake catchers, and tree cutters for rescue and relief operations. Senior IAS and IPS officers have been deputed to monitor the functioning of district collectors and district superintendents of police. He said that 12 IPS officers have been posted in Chennai for coordination and 15 IAS officers for each of the zones of Greater Chennai Corporation.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert in Chennai and adjoining districts for Thursday. The red alert is an indication that heavy to very heavy rain would lash the city and adjoining areas on Thursday. The IMD in a statement on Wednesday said that a low-pressure system over the Bay would intensify into a deep depression and reach North Tamil Nadu coast by November 11. The red alert, according to IMD, is applicable to several coastal districts of the state as extremely heavy rain (200mm) is likely in the coastal areas of the state.

The IMD regional centre said that the well-marked low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to concentrate into a depression in the next 12 hours. This depression would move northwestwards and reach Northern Tamil Nadu by the early morning of November 11 leading to heavy showers in the area.