Five lakh homeless in flood-hit TN

Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu is under siege by the heaviest bout of rains that the state has witnessed in the past 50 years.

Heavy rains have lashed the state over the past four days due to a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal taking the death toll to over 200

And though the rains let up almost 24-hours ago, 280 people have already died in the floods and over five lakh have been left homeless across the 12 districts in the state.

People are still battling the after-effects of the floods such as water-borne diseases, lack of clean water supply, blocked drainage systems and water-logged streets.

Army rescue teams have finally swung into action looking for the people who drowned when two buses in Ramanathapuram and Pattukotai fell into a river.

Many railway tracks and highways, which were breached by overflowing rivers and lakes, have been repaired and cleared and many cancelled trains are running again on diverted routes through Kerala.

However most parts of Tiruchirapally, Cuddalore, Madurai, and Karur are still cut off from the rest of the state and officials say it will take at least a week for the water to recede.

On Saturday and Sunday, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited the flood-hit areas in Tiruchirapally.

They distributed relief material of around Rs 16 lakh to the affected people but Jayalalithaa stated that since the state had exhausted its calamity contingency fund in post-tsunami relief, the Centre would have to provide relief.

She has asked the Centre for Rs 3000 Crore towards relief. "Houses have to be provided for all those who have been left homeless. The Rs 300 crores that we have requested the Centre to forward us may just be the tip of the iceberg. We are yet to make an assessment of our total requirement."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Monday, sanctioned Rs 500 crore for taking up immediate relief works in the state.

After making an aerial survey of nine flood-affected districts, Shivraj Patil said,"The relief should be addressed in three phases - rescue of the marooned people, providing them shelter and reconstruction of the infrastructure. The central team would visit the state in two days and we will work based on their report."