CHENNAI: Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran on Thursday said that the death toll in rain related incidents across the state during the past few days has gone up to 14 and that Rs 4 lakh each will be given to the bereaved families as financial assistance within a week's time.
Addressing a press conference as the low pressure started crossing the coast, the minister said during the past 24 hours till Thursday morning, two persons lost their lives in rain related incidents in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur districts.
The minister also clarified that the red alert for Chennai and surrounding districts has not been withdrawn. The meteorological department has withdrawn only the warning for extreme rainfall for Chennai and adjacent districts. The warning for heavy rains and winds continues for these districts.
Since Thursday morning till 6 pm, Chennai received 58.2 mm rain while Chengalpattu received 39.7 mm of rain. Kancheepuram received 47.3 mm and Thiruvallur received 58.8 mm.
Work on evacuating stagnated rain water has intensified since the rains have stopped. Since the Adyar river is carrying floodwater now, the government has requested people living in Ashtalakshmi Nagar, Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Amutham Nagar, Shriram Nagar located in between Manimangalam Road to Dargah Road to move to relief camps.
48 boats have been sent to the Chennai corporation for rescue work. One team of the NDRF has been deputed to Kancheepuram for rescue operations. With this, 11 teams of the NDRF and four teams of the SDRF have been engaged in rescue operations in different districts.
In 15 districts, 185 relief camps have been functioning for rain affected persons and 10,073 persons have been given shelter. In Chennai alone, in 44 camps, so far 2,249 persons have been given shelter. So far, 26.5 lakh food packets have been distributed to rain affected people.
In Chennai, water stagnation has been reported from 523 places while stagnated water has been evacuated in 46 places. Similarly, water is being evacuated from 10 subways. 230 trees have been removed. Over 79,049 persons have received medicare in Chennai through the camps during the past four days.