Boats anchored due to rough sea in T’kudi; winds uproot trees in Kodai

MADURAI: Rough seas forced fishermen to suspend their daily routine at sea off Thoothukudi for the last three days.

After the 61-day annual fishing ban along the East coast of Tamil Nadu ended, fishing operations were carried out off Thoothukudi coast only for 10 days, M Dharmapichai, vice president, Thoothukudi Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association said on Thursday.

Not the best days of fishing even after the ban came to a close, because most of the fishermen and boat owners were not content with the fish catch. However, fishing is allowed to resume off Thoothukudi from Friday, he said.

Meanwhile, strong winds blew over Kodaikanal, the Princess of Hill stations, causing minor damages due to toppling of some trees and power lines, sources said. Kodaikanal Municipality Commissioner P Sathiyanathan said trees were knocked over by the heavy winds, but restoration works were done soon. Pleasant weather is prevailing in parts of Kodaikanal with intermittent drizzle and a brisk wind. Boating operations on Kodaikanal lake by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation was suspended for a couple of hours on Wednesday owing to strong winds, but resumed subsequently, the Commissioner said.

Kodaikanal Revenue Divisional Officer R Raja, when contacted, said an uprooted tree at Kookal on Wednesday night, was cleared by the Highways personnel on Thursday. High winds also caused damage to three electricity poles and with the aid of Tangedco personnel alternate arrangements were made to resume power supply in short time.

According to Kodaikanal Tahsildar A Muthuraman, over the last two days, strong winds toppled three trees at Kookal and caused damage to three electricity poles.