Christmas celebration cancelled by TN's Raj Bhavan amid catastrophic rainfall

Chennai: The "Celebration of Advent Christmas," which was set for Thursday, December 21, 2023, has been canceled by the state Raj Bhavan due to the intense rains and catastrophic flooding that have been plaguing Tamil Nadu's southern regions, the Raj Bhavan announced in a news statement.

Tamil Nadu CM Stalin meets PM Modi 

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister MK Stalin met to talk about relief efforts for Tamil Nadu's southern districts, which are now experiencing severe flooding and heavy rains.

Stalin arrived in Delhi on Monday for the 10:30 p.m. scheduled meeting with the prime minister. After the meeting, the CM departed for Thoothukudi.

Heavy rainfall claims 10 lives in TN 

Ten lives were claimed by the unprecedented rainfall in south Tamil Nadu. A trainload of people, as well as individuals and families, were left stuck for days after the region came to a complete halted due to heavy rainfall. The implementation of rescue and relief activities was spearheaded by the joint efforts of the Defense, national, and state disaster response teams.

Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena told the reporters at the Secretariat that ten people have died in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts amid rainfall. Some lost their lives dur to collapse while some died due to electrocution. 

Meena termed the predictions by the India Meteorological department (IMD) AS "wrong". Quoting IMD's forecast, Meena said that the IMD predicted "isolated to heavy, very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall may occur in one or two places". But Kayalpattinam (  a municipality in Tuticorin district) received 115 cm rainfall in two day, he contradicted. He elaborated that southern districts especially Tirunelveli and Tuticorin saw unparalleled rainfall and flooding that was historic. 

According to Southern Railway, all 809 train passengers who were left stranded at the severely flooded Srivaikuntam station on Tuesday were rescued.

Five hundred ninety-nine of the eight hundred passengers had been flown from the Srivaikuntam Railway Station by Tuesday evening.

They were driven to the adjacent Vanchi Maniyacchi Railway station, from which they will board a special train to Chennai.

270 of the 300 additional train passengers who were housed at a school in Srivaikuntam moved out on their own because the majority of them were from the surrounding areas.

Nearly 1,343 troops from centre and state agencies, such as the Air Force, Navy, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force, were participating in rescue and relief operations throughout the southern regions of the state, according to the Chief Secretary.

About 17,000 people have found housing in the 160 aid camps that we have established so far, Meena added. People have received almost 34,000 food packages, but several areas are still inaccessible since the water level has not dropped, he further stated. 

13,500 kg of food were delivered to stranded victims by nine helicopters that were used in relief operations, he added. (With inputs from PTI)