The State government’s call to people to avoid moving out of their homes during cyclonic weather appears to have evoked good public response in Thanjavur district.
While State-owned and private transport buses have stayed off the roads from the afternoon of November 24, the number of personal vehicles have also thinned out in view of a public holiday declared by the government on November 25.
According to representatives of traders’ associations, people have kept track of the cyclone for the past few days and stocked up on groceries and other essential items. They were also responsive well before the State government clamped down on public movement through precautionary announcements followed by their implementation by law enforcement machinery.
Meanwhile, around 3,250 persons have volunteered to avail cyclone shelter and rescue centre facilities at 78 places in Thanjavur district. The district administration has set up cyclone shelter and relief centres at 251 places in the district, official sources said.
Though business establishments, irrespective of their scale of operation, remained closed on Wednesday, a few tea shops, small hotels and kiosks apart from retail milk outlets functioned in urban areas even as incessant rain was reported throughout the district from Wednesday morning.
Tree uprooted
At Vazhapazhakadai area near Papanasam, the incessant rain accompanied by winds resulted in a five-decade-old Thoongumoonji maram ’ (rain tree or albizia saman ) getting uprooted.
The tree that fell across Thanjavur-Kumbakonam Road on Wednesday morning was removed by cyclone rescue teams, and the carriageway was cleared for traffic. Trees identified as very old and weak on major carriageways and thickly populated areas were chopped down by the rescue teams as a precautionary measure.
District Monitoring Officer and Director of Horticulture Department N. Subbaiyan and Collector M. Govinda Rao visited different parts of the district and guided officials deployed in relief and rescue operations.
Talking to reporters during the inspection, Mr. Subbaiyan said power supply might be suspended in case of heavy rain as a precautionary measure and it would be restored immediately after the situation turned normal.
