Sigh of relief as Cyclone Thane spares city

CHENNAI: While Cyclone Thane battered Cuddalore and Puducherry, Chennai was, by and large, spared. Yet, the storm did its sha­re of damage on the coas­tal areas of north Chennai, besides claiming a life in the city when a building collapsed.A unidentified woman pedestrian, died instantly when the frontage of an old mansion collapsed due to winds and heavy rain at Pulianthop­e on Friday. Another person, Rajaram (49) of Choolai, was injured and taken to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.Though Thane made landfall between Cuddalore and Puducherry on Friday, its impact was felt in Periya Kuppam, a fishing hamlet on the Ennore Express Highway. All 300 families living there were evacuated on Thursday in anticipation of the storm. When they returned on Friday, they found that five of the huts had been washed away. They were unable to retrieve anything. Sand and water had entered the houses, and doors and windows were shattered by gushing waves. Vasantha (60), a resident of the hamlet since 1963, said this was the sixth time that houses had been washed away since she moved here.At the time of landfall, Tha­ne packed wind speeds of 120 kmph in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam, while Chennai experienced up to 60 kmph on Friday morning.The cyclone’s proximity to the state’s coast caused inte­nse rains in several parts of TN on Thursday and Friday. By Friday morning, Puducherry had received 15 cm of rain, followed by Kalpakkam and Kelambakkam (10 cm each), Cuddalore, Maduranthakam and Uthiramerur (9 cm each), Chengalpattu and Mahabalipuram (8 cm each) and Tiruvallur and Chidambaram (7 cm each).Chennai city on Friday recorded 3.5 cm rain, while the airport observatory received 6.7 cm rainfall.“The exact place where the cyclone crossed the coastline remains unknown, as there are no observatories between Puducherry and Cuddalore,” said S R Ramanan, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre. “A survey team has been sent to the region...to find the exact location by gauging the impact and exten­t of rains and winds,” he said. Even as Thane weakened into a depression near Salem by evening, Ramanan said it would cause rains in certain parts of the state over the weekend. In Chennai, however, skies have been forecast to clear up on Saturday evening, paving the way for a clear New Year’s Eve.