TN floods declared as 'calamity of severe nature' by Centre

Development comes a day after Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking for the same

The Centre today announced the recent floods in Tamil Nadu as 'calamity of severe nature'. The development comes a day after the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has written a letter to the Prime Minister requesting the same.

Since November 6, heavy rains have been lashing the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu mainly Chennai, Cuddalore, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram. The city of Chennai witnessed its worst floods in the last 100 years.

According to the State Government, a total of 347 lives were lost in the torrential rains and floods in the state since October 1, 2015. The government also said over 17.64 lakh people were rescued from floods and are housed in 6,605 relief centres. The rains and floods also killed 3,889 cattle.

While the rain has stopped in Chennai and two districts, the Cuddalore and southern coastal districts continue to receive heavy rainfall.

The state government in its initial memorandum has requested Centre to sanction over Rs 8,000 crore to take up rehabilitation works in the affected areas. The centre announced over Rs 1,900 crore till now. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation.

Jayalaithaa also asked her party representatives in the Parliament to contribute Rs 1 crore each from the money allocated for their constituency development to undertake rehabilitation works in the state.