TIRUCHY: After a thorough job in Sri Lanka, where several lives were lost, cyclone Ditwah barrelled towards the Tamil Nadu coast and pummelled Rameswaram in the first leg on Friday and then Nagapattinam on Saturday.
Several pockets across the Delta and southern region were marooned due to steady and heavy rains triggered by the cyclone. Kodiayakarai in Nagapattinam district recorded the highest quantum of 25 cm in the past 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Saturday.
Coastal Ramanathapuram district which was the entry point for Ditwah on TN coast, bore Ditwah’s full brunt with Pamban witnessing 7.42 cm. Normal life was crippled in Rameswaram, Pamban, Mandapam, Thangachimadam and some nearby hamlets as most of them went under water.
With no sign of the cyclone weakening, the Nagapattinam port, where Cautionary Signal number 4 was hoisted for the past couple of days, raised the warning level to dome number 5 on Saturday.
Following is the rainfall quantum (in cm) recorded in other parts of Nagapattinam district: Vedaranyam - 19, Velankanni - 13, Tirupoondi and Nagapattinam 12 each. Similarly, districts like Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruchy and Pudukkottai witnessed moderate to heavy showers.