Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to urgently sanction Rs 1,000 crore “on account” payment from the National Disaster Response Fund to Tamil Nadu to enable immediate cyclone relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction measures. He also requested Mr. Modi to depute a Central team to study the extensive damage caused by cyclone Vardah.
In his letter, Mr. Panneerselvam said cyclone Vardah had badly hit Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction and causing damage even in the districts of Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri.
The cyclone, he said, uprooted more than 12,000 trees disrupting traffic in Chennai and its suburbs, besides causing extensive damage to road infrastructure. Due to the extensive damage caused to transmission lines, substations, transformers and distribution lines, power supply was cut off in almost the entire city of Chennai as well as large parts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. More than 10,000 electric poles have been wrecked and more than 800 transformers damaged. The immediate priority is restoration of electricity supply.
The Chief Minister said extensive damage has been caused to huts, drinking water infrastructure and sewerage facilities.
Detailed assessment
A detailed exercise to assess the damages and the requirement of funds for immediate relief and restoration is being carried out. Since the damage to various infrastructure assets and properties has been extensive, the detailed assessment is expected to take two or three days.
The State Government will present the detailed Memorandum on the extensive damages suffered due to the cyclonic storm Vardah in the next few days.
