Current affairs

Cyclone Nivar: TN CM EPS announces public holiday in these 13 districts! Full details here

By alagu, 25 November, 2020
India, Tamilnadu, Chennai, Cyclone Nivar

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has on Wednesday declared a public holiday for 13 districts of the state on Thursday owing to the cyclonic storm Nivar, which will be making landfall on Wednesday evening between Karaikal and Mamallapuram with the wind speed ranging between 120-130 kmph. 

The coastal districts of the state including Chennai have been rolling out precautionary measures to tackle the cyclone, which intensified as a severe cyclonic storm on the morning hours of Wednesday. The Meteorological Center in Chennai had issued a warning to the state that the cyclone would bring heavy to extremely heavy rainfall to the coastal districts. 

As the state government has deployed precautionary measures and relief teams to carry out the rescue operations, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has on Tuesday declared a public holiday for the state on Wednesday and appealed to the general public and fishermen not to venture out of the residence during the course of the cyclone. As the coastal districts are predicted to be more vulnerable, the Chief Minister has declared a public holiday for 13 districts on Thursday, November 26.

The Chief Minister has announced a public holiday for the districts of Chennai, Vellore, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Thiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, and Perambalur for Thursday as these districts are predicted to receive very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall as the sequel of Cyclone Nivar. The cyclonic storm is expected to be more stronger than Cyclone Gaja, which struck the coasts of Tamil Nadu in 2018. 

According to reports, the public transports in these 13 districts would remain suspended and non-essential public offices would be closed and the services won't be resumed until further notice. The Southern Railway had already suspended various train services in the state and the Chennai suburban trains until further orders. The Southern Railway has canceled 27 trains connecting Chennai to various major cities of the state. 

On Wednesday, the state government has ordered to close the TASMAC liquor outlets in the districts of Chengalpattu, Cuddalore, and Villupuram. The government machinery and the district administrations have been taking precautionary measures in the respective districts. The National Disaster Relief teams have been stationed in the vulnerable districts and the administrations had installed relief centers to accommodate the evacuated people from the coastal areas. 

Chennai has been receiving heavy incessant rainfall since Tuesday, leaving the city to get inundated and pushing the residents to meet severe disruptions for their normal lives. The heavy rainfall had inundated roads and streets in the city and it had let Chembarambakkam lake to reach the capacity of its water storage. As a sequel to that, the state government had ordered to release excess water from the lake at 12 pm on Wednesday and the city has been issued with a flood warning. 

Around 1000 cusecs of water have been released from the Chembarambakkam lake and the government has begun the evacuation process of evacuating people from the banks of the Adyar river. The Chennai Corporation has arranged 169 relief centers across the city to accommodate the evacuated people and relief works and the government has asked the people to stay vigilant. 

Chennai police commissioner Mahesh Aggarwal said that 12 disaster relief teams are ready to tackle and respond to the cyclone and to carry out the relief efforts. Following the release of the excess water from the lake, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had visited the lake and reviewed the situation with the authorities on tackling the possible flood and cyclone Nivar. DMK President MK Stalin has also visited the affected areas of Chennai and took stock of the preparedness of the government in tackling the cyclone. 

 

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