Chennai: At least four people were killed as very severe cyclonic storm Vardah hit the Tamil Nadu capital on Monday, flattening homes, snapping power and communication lines and disrupting rail, road and air traffic as it crossed the coast.
The storm, the most intense to have hit Chennai in two decades, pounded Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts with heavy rain.
Two fishermen were reported missing off the Andhra Pradesh coast in Kakinada and the Coast Guard has deployed ship for search and rescue operations. Though no major loss of life or property has been reported from Andhra Pradesh so far, heavy rains lashed Chittoor and SPS Nellore district, affecting normal life.
Most commercial establishments downed shutters in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts.
Civic workers used hand-held battery-operated wood cutters to remove hundreds of uprooted trees lying on the roads. Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF were deployed for rescue efforts as army was put on standby.
NDRF teams conducting operations in Tamilnadu. pic.twitter.com/VM3fvNZCHl? NDRF (@NDRFHQ) December 12, 2016
About 8,000 people from low-lying areas in north Chennai, Pazhaverkadu in Tiruvallur district and villages off Mamallapuram, in Kanchipuram district were safely evacuated to 95 relief shelters, officials said.
Also, separate teams of personnel drawn from the health, sanitary and electricity departments were deployed for relief operations in low-lying areas of the three storm-hit Tamil Nadu districts.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to take stock of the situation in the two states and promised all help.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Nadu apprised the Home Minister of the damage caused by the cyclone and steps taken for the rescue and relief.
(With PTI inputs)
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