Operation clean-up begins

Apart from 18,000 Corporation workers from the city, 1,758 additional workers from other Corporations in the state were deployed round-the-clock to clear the roads of the fallen trees and branches. The Corporation’s arsenal of 70 tree-cutting machines were insufficient for the mammoth job and 150 more machines were pressed into action, along with 60 earth-movers and 200 lorries. A Corporation official said, “Out of the 2,810 trees, 1,282 have been cleared. The staff have been on the field to ensure that most of the fallen trees are cleared by Tuesday evening. The cyclone had also destroyed 492 electric poles and 175 street-lights. 

After clearing fallen trees, electricity restoration work will begin.” GCC is also running 27 relief camps housing 3,908 persons evacuated from low-lying areas apart from offering help to other affected persons. Complaints of water stagnation were dealt with swiftly, to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Out of the 206 complaints of water-logging, 162 were attended to. Medical camps are being held in the city. 

Meanwhile, environmentalist and experts in the city claimed that the loss of green cover will impact the city adversely during the coming months. Coupled with insufficient rainfall, the repercussions include increased vulnerability to air and dust pollution, a spike in urban heat during summer and water shortage.

According to reports, Vardah was the worst cyclone witnessed by the city in 22 years. “I have never seen anything like it in my life, this is worse than 1994,” posted Tamil Nadu Weatherman R Pradeep John. The last time the city saw such strong winds was in in 1994 where the wind speed was approximately 116 kmph and gusts were 132 kmph,” he added.

Meanwhile, the government announced that schools and colleges will be closed on Wednesday in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.

Eighteen people were killed in six districts of the state in rain-related incidents linked to Cyclone Vardah that crossed the coast on Monday. A government official monitoring the situation said that five each were killed in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts. Four persons died in Kancheepuram district, one each in Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts and two in Tiruvannamalai district. All these deaths were in the revenue districts. He said as expected, districts like Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and the Western belt of Dharmapuri too witnessed heavy rains that began with the commencement of Cyclone Vardah’s landfall.

Lack of adequate power supply had compelled Southern Railway to restrict train operations to skeletal minimum on most suburban and express routes. The sub-stations in Tambaram, Chintadaripet and Ennore, the crucial one’s that power the railway operations in central Chennai, were down till December 13.

Southern Railway has diverted power from its other sections to run skeletal operations from Moore Market Complex to Gummidipoondi and Arakkonam and Egmore to Tambaram, where services were partially restored on Tuesday. However, the Beach–Velachery MRTS service remained completely suspended till half past 7 pm. Even between Egmore and Tambaram, the EMU services were only operated on the two express lines. The suburban services will not be restored before Wednesday morning.