NDRF teams reach Madurai, Kanniyakumari
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Arakkonam, are being deployed in Madurai and Kanniyakumari districts from Saturday following the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting heavy rain. Preparedness measures were taken to meet any emergency, said collectors of the two districts.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-10-06 22:01 GMT
Chennai
The district administration has tasked 11 inter-departmental zonal teams to monitor the 24 vulnerable places at 22 locations across Madurai. Besides this, 417 first responders and 67 immediate responders would be put on alert. Forty-six temporary relief shelters have also been set up, added collector S Natarajan.
Waterbodies are being desilted to increased their storage capacity, said the official, adding that work under the Kudimaramathu scheme were in progress at 178 tanks and another 140 tanks under the IAMWARM project.
Meanwhile in Kanniyakumari, Collector Prashant M Wadnere said fishermen from all coastal villages were apprised of the forecast on weather, while steps are being taken to reach out the fishermen, now in deep sea, with the help of Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
So far, they have managed to contact 566 of the 646 boats that were at sea, of which 430 have already returned to the shore, he added.
Stating that the men on 110 boats were not reachable until Friday night, Wadnere added: “Officials conducted door-to-door survey to check the actual number of fishermen who ventured into the sea,” he said.
In addition to the two Dornier aircrafts of the Navy, another aircraft of the Coast Guard has also been deployed for search and rescue operations. Coast Guard Deputy Inspector General Venkatesh Babu from Thoothukudi Station, said 89 boats could not be reached through VHF communication, adding that merchant ships on sea transit have been request to assist in getting a possible line of sight communication.
The ICG Ship Vaibhav had been engaged in search and rescue operation over the last three days and the ICGS Abhiraj would join the operation at 5 am on Sunday, DIG Babu said.
Roof collapses due to heavy rain, one dies
Eeswaram, an 88-year-old woman was killed after the rain-soaked portion of a roof collapsed and fell on her. According to sources, the incident occurred while the woman was asleep in the front portion of the house at Narasinganallur village, Tirunelveli taluk. Suthamalli police filed a case. Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish said the incident occurred in an old building. This was the first incident reported after the recent rains, she said.
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