Two persons, including a two-year-old child, were killed in the widespread rain that lashed in Kanniyakumari district on Sunday.
The rains experienced for the third consecutive day due to the 'Tauktae' cyclone, resulted in inundation in low lying areas and there were also complaints of sea erosion in fishermen colonies.
Fisheries Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan visited Arumanai and Ramanthurai hamlets and consoled the family members on the loss of their kin and handed over ₹4,00,000 cheque each as compensation.
In Arumanai, a wall reportedly collapsed, in which Yugin (20) died, while the two-year-old child identified as Regina, daughter of Bedmin was killed after a tiled roof collapsed.
Accompanied by District Collector M. Aravind, Kanniyakumari MP Vijay Vasanth, local MLA Rajesh Kumar and senior officials, the Minister inspected the banana groves that were inundated. At least one lakh plantain crops had submerged or had been uprooted in the wind.
The catchment area in Chitrar 2 recorded the highest rainfall of 79 mm on Sunday, PWD officials said. An inflow of 2,485 cusecs in Pechiparai dam led to rise in the storage level to 43.13 feet and discharge was 4,427 cusecs.
As a result, Tirparappu falls, Tamirabarani river, Valliaru, Pazhaiaru, and Paraliaru received heavy inflow. PWD officials said that they had adequately warned people to stay away from the river bank and move over to relief centres.
Fishermen in Vallakadavu complained that many hamlets had been inundated. At Thengapattinam, Midalam, Puthanthurai coastal hamlets, sea erosion led people to pile up sandbags to keep water from flooding their houses.
The worst affected pockets included Azhagiyapandapuram, Irachakulam, Siramadai, Kalpadi, Villukuri, where standing crops had either submerged or were uprooted in the wind.
The fire and rescue service personnel had formed 18 teams and worked round-the-clock attending to calls. According to the IMD forecast, there may be rains for the next 48 hours until the cyclone weakens.
