Cyclone Thane crosses Tamil Nadu coast, 26 killed

It left a trail of destruction and throwing life out of gear in Cuddalore district and neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry. Cuddalore, about 170 km from here on the east coast, bore the brunt of the cyclonic fury, accounting for nine deaths, Puducherry seven and Chennai two in rain-related incidents such as wall collapse and electrocution, officials said. Thane crossed the coast between Cuddalore and Puducherry bringing in its wake torrential rains accompanied by gale that uprooted hundreds of trees and electric poles, snapping power supply in several areas. The tiny Puducherry was cut off from neighbouring districts in Tamil Nadu with the uprooted trees blocking road traffic. After the landfall, Thane moved further westward and weakened rapidly into a deep depression and lay centered at about 100 km west of Cuddalore, the regional weather office here said. "The system is likely to move westwards and weaken further," it said forecasting heavy rainfall for the next 12-24 hours in different parts of the state and Puducherry and advised fishermen against venturing into sea due to rough conditions. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa sanctioned a sum of Rs 150 crore towards immediate relief works including putting back in shape the infrastructure which has taken a hit and directing four of her cabinet colleagues to visit affected districts to oversee relief work. Train services from southern Tamil Nadu were hit as many of them ran late or were stopped in the nearby station while flights to international destinations by private carriers including to Kuwait and Malaysia from Chennai were cancelled. Puduchery District Collector S B Deepak Kumar said that rescue operations were in full swing in the union territory. Uprooted trees were being removed from the roads. The regional weather office here said, "The very severe cyclonic storm  THANE  over southwest Bay of Bengal moved further westward and crossed north Tamil Nadu coast between Cuddalore and Puducherry between 6.30 and 7.30 AM on Friday." It had now weakened into a severe cyclonic storm and lay about 30 km west of Cuddalore and 35 km southwest of Puduchery, it said, adding wind speeds of upto 140 kph was recorded during this period. "Under the influence of this system, rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places would occur over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during next 12 hours and over north interior Tamil Nadu during next 24 hours," a weather bulletin said. Further, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur over south coastal Andhra Pradesh during next 12 hours and over Rayalseema, north Kerala and south Karnataka during the next 24 hours. Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu was the most affected, with damaged roads rendering it difficult for rescue teams including those from National Disaster Response Force and Fire and Rescue Services to reach the cyclone hit fishing hamlets. District Collector Amuthavalli said even as communication lines remained affected, over 5000 houses of fishermen had been damaged.