Cyclone Nada inching closer to the district
Cuddalore: Heavy rains, accompanied by squalls, lashed various parts of Cuddalore district on Thursday as Cyclone Nada which weakened into a deep depression inched closer to a landfall on the northern coast between Vedaranyam and Puducherry early on Friday.
According to a bulletin of the Indian Meteorological Department, the system lay centred about 330 km south-southeast of Chennai and 270 km southeast of Puducherry. The system is very likely to move west northwestwards and gradually weaken into a deep depression during the next 12 hours and cross the coast between Vedaranyam and Puducherry, south of Cuddalore, by early Friday.
The district administration has kept on standby forces for rescue and relief operations. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel are deployed. Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Cuddalore district monitoring officer, on Thursday chaired a meeting of officials and reviewed the preparedness of various departments.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Bedi said that two teams of the NDRF each comprising 40 personnel had been stationed at Cuddalore and Chidambaram to deal with rescue work. The district administration has asked people not to venture out of their houses when the system is expected to cross the coast. All precautionary measures have been taken in the coastal and interior areas of the district based on the experiences of the past when Cyclone Thane made a landfall in 2011, he said.
A team of officers and staff from TANGEDCO have been stationed in Cuddalore district to carry out repair and restoration works. Over 3,000 electric poles and sufficient stock of distribution transformers and conductors have also been made available to carry out restoration work immediately after any disruption to services, Mr. Bedi added.
The district administration has also directed TANGEDCO to switch off the power supply when the wind speed is high as a precautionary measure in order to avoid electricity-related mishaps. The power supply would be restored after the wind speed recedes to a safer limit, so as to minimise damage to the electrical system.
The Meteorological Department has directed danger signal no. 7 to be hoisted at Cuddalore port. This is to indicate that the cyclone would slam the coastline closer to the port. Fishermen in most of the coastal villages in the district abstained from venturing into the sea for the second consecutive day as the sea remained rough.
A holiday has been declared for schools, colleges and ITIs in Cuddalore district on Friday. Annamalai University has also announced postponement of examinations scheduled on Friday. The revised dates will be announced later, said Dr. K. Arumugam, Registrar of the University.
