Chennai, Dec 22: An inter-ministerial central team visited the inundated areas in Tirunelveli district on Thursday to assess the extent of damage caused due to the torrential rain on December 17 and 18 in the four southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The team under National Disaster Management Authority (Operation and Communication) Advisor K P Singh visited the waterlogged area at the Tirunelveli junction bus stand and interacted with the officials.During the team’s interaction with the affected residents, a victim of a house collapse became emotional while narrating her horrifying experience and almost fell at Singh’s feet pleading for help. Singh, who stopped the sobbing lady from touching his feet, assured her of appropriate financial assistance. According to Tirunelveli district collector K P Karthikeyan ahead of the rains, the administration shifted about 696 pregnant women to safety as a precaution.
As many as 142 were admitted to various hospitals and of them, 91 pregnant women including 14 in Primary Health Centre, 13 in Government Hospital, 21 in Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, and 43 in private hospitals, delivered babies in the last two days. He said drinking water was being supplied through tankers to Kooniyur village where the drinking water infrastructure was affected due to flooding of the Tamirabarani river. He urged the public to boil and cool the water before drinking.