Oil tanker runs aground off Chennai
Cyclonic storm Nilam swept across the north Tamil Nadu coast near Mahabalipuram, about 55km from here, leaving two persons dead, including a crew member of an oil tanker that ran aground off the city, PTI reports.
The crew member drowned after a lifeboat carrying him and 21 others capsized in choppy waters off the Besant Nagar locality in south Chennai in high velocity winds just hours before the storm hit the coast. He was brought dead to a hospital while 15 others were rescued.
They had attempted to escape using the lifeboat after the ship with 37 crew ran aground having been buffeted by high velocity winds. Two others are in a serious condition, Chennai Port Trust officials said.
Navy, Coast Guard and other agencies are searching for the remaining six. The other 15 remained onboard the Pratibha Cauvery, the officials said.
In Puducherry, a 46-year-old man slipped into the rough sea and drowned when he, along with his friends, was walking on the pier to see the sea conditions during the cyclonic storm.
Authorities were relieved as the storm, forecast to be accompanied by wind speeds reaching 110 kmph, made landfall with a maximum speed of only 65-75 kmph, saving the state from large-scale destruction.
About 4,000 people residing close to coast in Mahabalipuram, a famous tourist spot known for its temples and sculptures, were evacuated to safer places, officials said.
“Cyclonic storm NILAM moved north-northwestwards, crossed north Tamil Nadu coast near Mahabalipuram, south of Chennai between 4pm and 5pm today,” a weather bulletin from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The system, which brought heavy showers in several parts of the state in the last two days, would move northwestwards and weaken into a deep depression during the next six hours.
It would continue to bring more rainfall over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, even up to 25cm or more, the bulletin said.
“Rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls would also occur over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and north interior Tamil Nadu during next 24 hours,” it added.
A top government official said that Nilam is unlikely to be as devastating as cyclone Sandy that tore through the northeast US and other areas.
A storm surge of up to 1.5m was expected to flood low-lying areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, IMD said. On Monday, comparable surges triggered by Sandy were at least 3m above normal.
To be sure, Sandy’s impact on several US cities was exacerbated by several other unrelated atmospheric events in combination with each other.
“We don’t expect anything like that,” Shailesh Nayak, secretary, ministry of earth sciences, said in a text message.
State authorities turned 282 schools into relief centres in Chennai. The city’s port halted cargo operations. Twenty three ships were moved to safer areas.
About 150,000 people were moved to shelters in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh, district official B. Sridhar said.
In Sri Lanka, authorities said two people were killed and thousands displaced due to heavy rain and strong winds from the storm.
Sri Lanka’s disaster management centre said 4,627 people across the island nation had been displaced by flooding, while 56 were evacuated in the central region because of threats of landslides.
One woman died on Tuesday after a tree branch fell on her, while another person was killed in flooding, the agency said. Floods also damaged about 1,000 houses, it said.