Tamil Nadu: Shepherd dies in Tirunelveli; seven faint in Tuticorin

MADURAI: Heavy rain and lightning played havoc in some of the southern districts on Wednesday evening as one person died in Tirunelveli and seven people swooned after lightning struck near them. The shepherd was identified as A Muthu, 48, of Seelathikulam near Radhapuram. His relatives who went in search of him late in the evening found him dead with burn injuries.
The seven men of Tuticorin were rushed to Government medical college and hospital in Tirunelveli, where they are undergoing treatment.In Tirunelveli, the downpour which started between 3.30 pm and 5 pm lashed for up to two hours and continued till night at some places in the core city. Water entered the Manakavalam Pillai corporation hospital, causing much hardship to patients as well as hospital staff.
Students and people returning from work waded through flooded roads which also saw traffic snarls till around 8 pm. Among inundated areas were the temporary bus stand near the new bus stand, Samathanapuram, KTC Nagar, Manakavalam Pillai Nagar, Palayamkottai Town and Melapalayam.
Meanwhile, even as Kanyakumari limped back to normal, 14 houses were fully damaged and 100 partly in the 24 hours ending Wednesday 8 am due to the after-effects of the torrential rain that lashed a few days ago. There were 900 people still in 14 temporary shelters in the district on Wednesday evening. Most of them are in coastal areas in and around Vaikaloor and Thengapattanam as the stagnated water is flowing into the sea. "The number of relocated people was as high as 5,386 three days ago when the district recorded an average of more than 100 mm rainfall for two days in a row," an official said.