Rains lash Tamil Nadu, IMD forecasts heavy downpour in next 3 days

ChennaiRains under the influence of north east monsoon today hit normal life in several parts of Tamil Nadu where educational institutions remained closed even as the weather office forecast heavy downpour in the next three days in the state Puducherry and coastal Andhra PradeshPhotos Heavy rains throw life out of gear in Tamil NaduWhile there was no official toll put out by the state government unofficial estimates placed the number of deaths due to torrential rain at 70Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday announced a solatium of Rs400000 to the families of each of the 12 persons who had lost their lives in rainrelated incidents across the stateJayalalithaa also visited the rainaffected areas in the state capitalIn Chennai officegoers faced a harrowing time due to waterlogging and delay in train servicesSeveral areas including Mylapore South Chennai Vysarpadi and Perambur North Chennai have remained inundated since yesterday due to floodingThe city has been experiencing continuous rains since Saturday night with the spell reduced to a drizzle on Monday India Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rains in the next three days in Tamil Nadu Puducherry and coastal Andhra PradeshAlso read Heavy rains pound Tamil Nadu normal life thrown out of gearVendors push a cart on the waterlogged Marina Beach in Chennai PTI PhotoIncessant rains continued in Nagapattinam district for the third consecutive day on Monday throwing normal life out of gear Paddy crops in hundreds of acres remain submerged in this region Till 8 AM on Monday Tarangambadi in Nagapattinam district recorded the highest rainfall of 54 mm Other areas in the district have recorded over 45 mm of rainfallMore than 10000 fishermen did not venture into the sea for the fourth consecutive day due to the rough conditionsSenior IAS officer Shivdas Meena who has been appointed the flood monitoring officer for Nagapattinam district toured various parts of the district along with District Collector S PazhanisamyKollidam Thalaignayiru and Ananthamangalam areas which have been identified as flood prone areas are under roundtheclock vigilMeena told reporters 12 cyclone shelters have been kept ready to offer emergency servicesGeneral Secretary of Federation of Farmers Associations of Delta Districts Arupathy Kalyanam said tender crops in the Vennar basin division in Nagapattinam district remained submergedThe crops are barely onemonthold If heavy rain continues for a couple of days the crops will begin to decay he saidIn Sirkazhi area sugarcane crops grown in over 350 acres have been affected while Kuruvai shortterm paddy crops ready for harvest were inundated at VedaranyamThree teams from National Disaster Response Force have been camping at Poompuhar Kollidam and Sirkazhi to help peopleA report from Coimbatore said the first floor of an over 60yearold building on Big Bazaar area in the city which was lashed by heavy rains last week collapsed today The first floor of the building functioned as a godown of a textile merchant and the ground floor housed a fancy storeThe first floor came down around 530 AM and under the impact the shop on the ground floor was partially damaged the police said However there were no casualties they said adding the loss is yet to estimatedMayor P Rajkumar local MLA Doraisamy and senior corporation and district officials visited the spot