Coconut trees on 3,886 hectares (ha) and paddy crop on about 4,000 ha have been damaged in Nagapattinam district due to cyclone Gaja as per the survey conducted so far by the Agriculture Department, Minister for Handlooms and Textiles O.S.Manian said here on Friday.
Among horticulture crops, mango trees on 2,401 ha, banana on 223 ha, cashew on 1,022 ha, vegetables on 330 ha, lemon on 25 ha, papaya on eight ha, turmeric on 221 ha and flowers on 263 ha have been damaged, he said at a review meeting with Ministers R.B. Udhayakumar and K.P. Anbalagan and senior officials.
Mr. Manian said 23,370 out of 30,870 damaged electricity poles had been reinstalled and 406 out of 592 damaged transformers had been repaired. Over 5,800 Tangedco employees were working to restore power supply. Of 2.32 lakh uprooted trees, 1.85 lakh had been cleared so far. Over 77,700 houses had been fully damaged and another 22,224 were partly damaged. Besides, 11,112 pucca houses had also been damaged. As many as 2.02 lakh people were still being fed at 278 relief centres attached to 71 rural noon meal centres in the district.
Earlier, the Ministers and officials travelled by boat to visit Vandal and Kunduranveli in Thalaignayiru panchayat union to inspect relief work. The two villages were cut off due to heavy rain during the cyclone. They inspected veterinary camps and distributed cattle feed and other inputs.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary J.Radhakrishnan flagged off 45 additional mobile medical teams, which would fan out to various parts of the district to take up preventive measures against the spread of communicable diseases, on Saturday.
Already 50 mobile teams had been deployed. They will carry out a door-to-door awareness campaign to sensitise people on ways to check spread of communicable diseases.
