Tens of thousands of people residing in the coastal hamlets of Cuddalore, Puducherry and Villupuram heaved a sigh of relief after Cyclone Nivar crossed the Tamil Nadu coast in the early hours of Thursday without causing much destruction to life or property.
Barring one death due to rain preceding the landfall of the cyclone in Konur near Villupuram, there was no other loss of life.
A 47-year-old woman, Mahalakshmi, died after a portion of the house wall collapsed on Wednesday night. Her son has been admitted to the Government General Hospital, police said.
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In Puducherry, a couple of people sustained minor injuries after their house wall collapsed on Thursday morning at Nettapakkam village. Both were treated as outpatients at a Primary Health Centre.
A causeway in Marakkanam in Villupuram district got completely submerged, cutting access to people in three to four villages. The district also suffered crop loss in a few places. In Kandamangalam, a few acres of banana plantation sustained damage in gusty winds.
In Puducherry, hundreds of trees, especially in the boulevard area, got uprooted, causing damage to electric poles in certain places. Power supply, which got disrupted before the cyclone hit the coast, was restored by Thursday noon. The region also reported waterlogging in several places, including residential colonies in Rainbow Nagar, Krishna Nagar and Venketa Nagar. The Nellithope and Indira Gandhi signal also faced inundation due to heavy downpour.
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Water entered large swathes of paddy field in Bahour area and damaged banana plantation in many rural areas of the Union Territory.
Though there were fears that Cuddalore district would get caught in the fury of the cyclone, it managed to escape with no major incidents. Crops, mainly banana and sugarcane plantations, sustained damage in many places like Kurunjipadi, Sethiathoppu, Ramapuram and Reddichavadi. Waterlogging was also reported in Cuddalore town and adjoining areas.