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Four children among 9 die in Tamil Nadu as house collapses in downpour
Chief minister M K Stalin in a statement announced a financial assistance of ₹5 lakh each to the bereaved families and ₹50,000 each for those undergoing treatment.
Nine people, including four children, died when a house in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district collapsed on Friday morning due to the heavy rains since Thursday caused by a depression that crossed the coast of north Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the wee hours between 3am and 4am, officials said.
District collector P Kumaravel Pandian said that the house was very old and that it was located along the banks of a river near Pernampet. “Four people resided in this house and as the rains got heavier people from adjacent houses moved to the first floor of this house on Thursday night for shelter,” the collector said. This locality was severely flooded.
“The house was already in a dangerous condition because it is old and due to rains, it weakened further and around 7.15 this morning the house collapsed,” the collector said. Among the four children who were crushed to death, three of them are girls. Several others have also been injured in the collapse and are receiving treatment at Gudiyatham Government Hospital and Government Vellore Medical College Hospital in Adukkamparai.
Chief minister M K Stalin in a statement announced a financial assistance of ₹5 lakh each to the bereaved families and ₹50,000 each for those undergoing treatment.
Besides this tragic accident, no other major damage and loss to life was reported in other parts of the state.
“The red alert issued to all the districts is being withdrawn,” S Balachandran, head, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai said at a press conference. The IMD had issued a red alert to 16 districts including Chennai until November 18.
In a bulletin, the RMC said that at 11.30 am on Friday, “The Depression over north Tamil Nadu moved west-northwestwards and weakened into a well marked low pressure area over north interior Tamil Nadu and adjoining Karnataka and Rayalaseema.” On Friday the amount of rainfall received in different parts of the state was Chennai- 5cm, Chengalpattu- 6 cm, Villupuram- 22 cm, Tiruvannamalai- 15 cm and the adjacent union territory of Puducherry was also lashed with 19cm.
On Friday, the union government released a list of the seven-member team, led by Rajiv Shukla, Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor National Intelligence Grid, Union Ministry of Home Affairs who will be in Tamil Nadu to assess the damage due to the rains.
The situation was worse during the previous heavy rains overnight between November 6 and 7 and on November 11 when Chennai received 21 cm and 16 cm respectively and normal life was thrown out of gear. Kanyakumari district was severely flooded after it received 83.96 cm rainfall from October 1 to November 15 while 38.99 cm is the average it receives. From October 1 to November 18, Chennai and Tamil Nadu received 66% and 61% of excess rainfall during this north east monsoon season. Due to the damage caused by these rains in which 54 people lost their lives and there has been heavy crop loss in the delta districts, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday sought ₹2629 crore as central aid from union home minister Amit Shah.
