Heavy rain in Tamil Nadu, death toll climbs to 71

The North-East monsoon continued to wreak havoc in Tamil Nadu with rains pounding the northern coastal districts and more being forecast for the coming days in the state, where the death toll as climbed to 71.

Twelve more persons have been killed in incidents of drowning and wall-collapse between November 11 and 15, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa said as she also took stock of the situation at a review meeting with her cabinet colleagues and officials.

Condoling the death of the victims, she announced a relief of `4 lakh each to their families. At least 71 people have died in rail-related incidents so far.

Normal life has been hit in Tamil Nadu as incessant rains led to inundation of large areas and authorities have shut down educational institutions. The weather office forecast heavy downpour in the next three days in the state, Puducherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh

Overnight rains pounded Chennai and its suburbs, giving citizens a harrowing time. Subways at T Nagar and Saidapet in the city were inundated, resulting in their closure.

The district administration had declared a holiday for schools and colleges in the wake of the heavy downpour that had severely affected roads.

The well-marked low pressure over Southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu, which had brought incessant rains, is likely to move north-westwards towards north Tamil Nadu coast and could concentrate into a depression during next 24 hours, the weather office said.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy falls had occurred at a few places over north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and at isolated places over Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra Pradesh between 8.30 am on Sunday and 8.30 am on Monday.

The magnitude of the North East monsoon could be gauged by rainfall statistics available till 8.30 am on Monday, with Ponneri in Tiruvallur recording 37 cm.

Tambaram and Mahabalipuram (both Kancheepuram) recorded 33 cm each even as Chengalpattu in the disstrict and Thamaraipakkam andPuzhal (Tiruvalur) registered in excess of 30 cm.