This story is from November 27, 2020

Cyclone spares Cuddalore, Pondy, floods low-lying areas

A group of youth gleefully rowed a boat on stormwater that had inundated a vacant piece of land after the overnight heavy rain caused by Cyclone Nivar. Elsewhere, women folk complained of waterlogging, reflecting the contrasting emotions of the people in Tsunami Nagar in Cuddalore old town.
Cyclone spares Cuddalore, Pondy, floods low-lying areas
UNDER WATER: One of the busiest junctions in Puducherry, the India Gandhi square was inundated following heavy rain
PUDUCHERRY: A group of youth gleefully rowed a boat on stormwater that had inundated a vacant piece of land after the overnight heavy rain caused by Cyclone Nivar. Elsewhere, women folk complained of waterlogging, reflecting the contrasting emotions of the people in Tsunami Nagar in Cuddalore old town.
A vast majority of people in the Union territory of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu’s districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram heaved a sigh of relief as Nivar seemed to have skimmed the coastline, leaving barely a mark compared to the extensive damage that cyclone Thane left behind in 2011.
Nevertheless, Nivar threw normal life out of gear.
The cyclone made landfall near Marakkanam coast near Puducherry, leaving the low-lying regions in the tiny town, its suburbs and Tamil Nadu’s northern coastal districts inundated. It destroyed crops raised on 1,618 hectares in Cuddalore district alone. The district is at the tail-end of the Cauvery delta.
Puducherry and Cuddalore districts did not report any casualties while Villupuram district reported one death. A 47-year-old woman died when a portion of her house collapsed due to heavy rain caused by the cyclone. Her son, 29 sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at Villupuram medical college hospital. A couple from Nettapakkam in Puducherry sustained minor injuries when the roof of their house collapsed on them. Both were discharged after undergoing treatment as outpatients in a nearby primary health centre. Thane had claimed the lives of 48 people.
“Tsunami Nagar inundates only when the region witnesses heavy rainfall. Nivar left the locality in knee-deep stormwater affecting the normal life of the people,” said V Varadhan, 56 from the locality. “There are close to 800 families in the locality and the administration with the cooperation of the people must come out with a permanent solution to prevent waterlogging,” said Varadhan.
Several thatched houses and a few pucca houses, power and communication poles in Tamil Nadu’s northern districts and Puducherry and Karaikal districts were damaged by the cyclone’s fury. More than 500 trees in the region and along the cyclone’s path were either uprooted or its branches ripped off by strong winds.

Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy, who visited the cyclone-affected areas on Thursday morning, said there was no fatality in Puducherry. He said the damage was significantly reduced as people remained indoors and the rain and gale wind speed were intermittent during the cyclone.
Narayanasamy said more than 2,000 people had been accommodated in relief camps. He said all the fishermen who ventured into the sea for fishing from Karaikal had returned to shore safely by Wednesday evening. Puducherry received a record rainfall of more than 237mm from 8.30am on November 25 to 2.30am on November 26.
Narayanasamy said Nivar has damaged infrastructural facilities and properties worth Rs 400 crore in Puducherry. He said the government will urge the Union government to provide a financial aid of Rs 400 crore to undertake relief and rehabilitation work.
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