Tamil Nadu rain toll 39

The death toll in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu mounted to 39 on Monday as the vigourous north-east monsoon paralysed life for the fourth day with the Met office predicting more showers due to cyclone Ogni that lay close to coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The government on Monday declared a holiday for schools and colleges throughout the state.

State Relief Commissioner R Santhanam told PTI that so far 39 deaths have been reported from various parts of the state.

Three more persons died after they shut themselves in their air-conditioned car after being stranded in rain water in Chennai's G N Chetty Road in T Nagar area.

Only after getting the post-mortem report it would be known whether it was related to rain, Santhanam said.

Chennai bore the brunt of the torrential rains and many low-lying areas were inundated.

Vehicles moved at a snail's pace as many trees were uprooted and lying on the roads. The Director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre S R Ramanan said the deep depression, which lay over Kavali in Andhra Pradesh, developed into a cyclonic storm "Ogni" on Sunday night and was now close to Ongole, about 275 km from Chennai.

It was expected to cross the coast between Ongole and Machilipattinam later on Monday.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has raised the solatium to the families of the rain victims in the state from Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000.

Police said a search had been launched for seven missing fishermen -- four from Rameswaram and three from Nagapattinam.

In the Cauvery delta district of Nagapattinam, over 5,500 people have been shifted to safety.

Chennai, which received 2 cm of rain in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday, had some respite from rains since Monday morning, but water stagnation continued to pose problem in many places.

Chennai was, however, yet to recover fully from the Saturday night downpour when 11 cm of rainfall was recorded in just an hour.

Most low-lying areas of Chennai continued to remain under knee-deep water and over 65,000 people have been moved to corporation school buildings and community halls.

A total of 1.82 lakh food packets were being distributed, official sources said.

Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarabakkam lakes, the chief source of water supply to Chennai, were fast filling up.

Their combined water storage on Monday stood at 6,944 Mcft against the full capacity of 11,057 Mcft.

In the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Monday, Arcot in Vellore district and Dharmapuri recorded highest amount of rainfall of 9 cm each followed by Ambur (8 cm).