‘ Gaja’ crosses coast, 30 dead in TN

New Delhi: At least 30 people have lost their lives and over 81,000 others were affected after Cyclone ‘ Gaja’ hit the Tamil Nadu coast early on Friday, the National Emergency Response Centre ( NERC) said. Six districts of Tamil Nadu and two in Puducherry were hit by the cyclonic storm which also brought heavy rains in the southern state and the Union Territory. Altogether 81,948 people were affected by the cyclone in which so far 30 people have lost their lives, the NERC said in a statement. Soon after Gaja's landfall, home minister Rajnath Singh called up Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Palaniswami and assured him of all assistance to deal with the situation arising out of the cyclonic storm.

When ‘ Gaja’ hovered over the Bay of Bengal near Nagapattinam district for the past one week, the public and all government stakeholders did little realise its ferocity.

With 30 persons dead, heavy winds uprooting thousands of trees in the delta districts and collapsed power lines, ‘ Gaja’ tore into districts like Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai and Tiruvarur districts. Nagapattinam district bore the major brunt of the storm.

‘ Gaja’, played hide and seek for over a week and finally struck with winds speeds touching 110 kmph, as earlier warned by the Indian Meteorological Department and Regional Meteorological Centre, which were closely monitoring the situation throughout the day. Both agencies kept updating revenue officials about ‘ Gaja’ trail.

Revenue officials who have had kept their eyes peeled over the stormy development, had quickly evacuated around 81,000 people to safety across the delta districts. The storm did not spare livestock, as a huge numbers of cattle were killed across these districts.

The IMD, in its bulletin, said that the cyclone made landfall between 12.30 am and 2.30 am, after which it trundled on its way westwards, and is slowly poised to weaken.

Further, districts like Pudukkottai, Tiruchy and Ramanathapuram had on Thursday and Friday mornings, received mild rain.

— AFP England striker Wayne Rooney is greeted by England’s manager Gareth Southgate during the international friendly match between England and the US in London on Thursday.

— PTI A view of the damage caused by cyclone ‘ Gaja’ after it hit Velankanni in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu on Friday.