According to Baskar of Sadasivam Street at Gopalapuram, the supply disconnected at 10 am was not restored despite several complaints. “It is understandable if the supply was disconnected when the cyclone crosses the coast. But it was cut much before that,” he said.

R Aishwarya, a resident of Pozhichalur, tweeted that there was no power in the few localities there since early Wednesday morning. “People like us living in the flat. How will we store water in our tanks if the power supply was cut long before the cyclone making landfall?”

A senior Tangedco official said supply was disconnected only in the water-logged areas. “We have to disconnect power supply in the areas where inundation was reported. In case of the overhead cables, the supply would be disconnected during heavy rain and strong winds as a precautionary measure. We have disconnected supply along the ECR from Wednesday 4 pm. Our staff are working round-the-clock to restore supply at the places were cables snapped due to uprooting of trees,” the official said.

When cyclone makes landfall, supply would be disconnected according to the local weather conditions, the official said, adding that after the cyclone crosses the coast, steps would be taken on war-footing to restore it.