Normal life has been severely affected as many parts of Thoothukudi remained inundated due to heavy rainfall on December 18.
Floods in various parts of the city have disrupted the movement of vehicles as heavy rainfall continues to impact life and property.
A rescue operation is underway in Tirunelveli after heavy rain wreaked havoc in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Kanyakumari.
#WATCH | Indian Air Force helicopters are deployed for HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) missions in Tamil Nadu due to unprecedented rains in the last 24 hours. Four passengers including a pregnant woman & baby aged 1.5 yrs were winched up and taken safely to… pic.twitter.com/1mNYkTRFw5
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2023
Chennai Meteorological Department at 7 am on December 19 said, “Moderate thunderstorms and lightning with moderate rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over several districts of Tamil Nadu & Karaikal. Light rain is likely in isolated places in several districts of Tamil Nadu in the next three hours.”
The Chennai MeT predicted thunderstorms and lightning with moderate rain at isolated places over Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai districts of Tamil Nadu and Karaikal on December 19 morning.
#WATCH | Normal life severely affected as many parts of Thoothukudi remain inundated due to heavy rainfall in the area#TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/BEQVbLYM0u
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2023
“Heavy rainfall in the Southern District of Tamil Nadu impacted train operations. Southern Railway is making concerted efforts to restorative of traffic & evacuation of stranded passengers at Srivakuntam Railway station,” Southern Railway said in a press release.
Railway Staff from Madurai Division Commercial supervisor, Commercial Inspector and RPF Personnel have reached Srivaikuntam Railway station this morning with food and water for the stranded passengers.
NDRF is also reaching Srivaikuntam Rly station shortly. The evacuation by ground will start once they reach.
#WATCH | Severe waterlogging in parts of Thoothukudi as the area received heavy rainfall under the influence of cyclonic circulation#TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/YISN3gpJ4Q
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2023
NDRF PRO stated that two NDRF teams struggled to reach stranded passengers for rescue operations due to severe floods. NDRF is making efforts to reach them and will do the necessary.
Thirteen buses for transportation of the stranded passengers are kept ready in the Srivaikuntam bus depot. On evacuation from the station, they will be brought to the buses and moved to Vanchi Maniyachchi Railway Station, which is 38 km from Srivaikuntam.
A special train will be run to Chennai from Vanchi Manyichchi Station for all the stranded passengers, Southern Railways said. Indian Army rescued flood-affected people from the Vasavappapuram area in Thoothukudi on December 18 night.
As Southern Tamil Nadu faces a severe flood crisis due to heavy rains that have lashed the region in the last 24 hours. The State and Union Governments have launched massive rescue and relief operations to help the affected people.
On 18 Dec 2023,Tamil Nadu
received unprecedented rains in last 24 hours,that has caused extensive
flooding in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts.IAF responded swiftly and tasked AF Station Sulur for an HADR Ops which is
currently being undertaken by MI -17 V5 helicopter . pic.twitter.com/uzlOxsNsvu— SAC_IAF (@IafSac) December 18, 2023
“On December 18, Tamil Nadu received unprecedented rains in the last 24 hours that have caused extensive flooding in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts. The IAF responded swiftly and tasked Air Force Station Sulur with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, which is currently being undertaken by MI -17 V5 helicopter,” the Indian Air Force said in a post on ‘X’.
(with inputs from ANI)
