Thiruvananthapuram: Severe winds and rain triggered by cyclone Ockhi left three persons dead and caused damage worth several crores of rupees across the capital on Thursday. A woman identified as Alphonsamma, 65, of Vizhinjam died after a tree collapsed on her at the Vizhinjam bus depot in the morning. Two persons, Appu Nadar, 75, and Sumathi, 65, died of shock from an electric pole which was felled by winds at Killi near Kattakada. The winds lashed the district around midnight on Wednesday itself. In the early hours, trees and arches on streets were toppled.
The shutters of Neyyar dam were lifted by eight feet, its maximum limit. Several residents along Neyyar were caught off guard as houses were flooded before the warnings came from irrigation department and police. Several fishermen were caught in high seas by the time the district administration issued rough weather warning around 10.30 a.m. Though the district administration declared a holiday for schools by 12 noon, a section of schools continued classes after finding it unsafe to let students out.
Around 11.30 a.m. in the capital, the wind speed reached 75 kmph. A car was destroyed near Neyyatinkara court. Several students had a narrow escape as a stage collapsed at a venue at Parassala, where the Nedumangaud sub-district school youth festival was being held. As the winds approached the city, the advertisement billboards started flying off. One of them damaged a car near RKD NSS School, Sasthamangalam, and injured a student.
By 12.45 p.m., a tree fell on an autorickshaw and a car injuring the auto driver Sanal, 30, at Sreekanteswaram. Four cars belonging to doctors were damaged in a parking lot inside Medical College Hospital. Reports said that at Kanyakumari, an estimated 250 mobile phone towers collapsed apart from thousands of trees.
Navy search on for missing fishermen
Around 38 fishermen and seven boats were missing from Thiruvananthapuram amidst adverse weather conditions in the seas due to cyclone Okchi, said coastal police. Meanwhile, people from coastal villages claimed that over 100 persons were missing. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted that around 400 fishermen in 80 boats were missing from the state. Three Poonthura-based fishermen who were injured during a boat wreck were rescued by another fishing boat which took them to a hospital at Thengapattanam. The missing persons hailed from various coastal hamlets such as Adimalathura, Vizhinjam, Valiyathura and Valiyathoppu.
As per the estimates by fishermen who managed to return, the boats could have drifted as far as 100 km off shore. Fishermen fear that the incident could result in casualties if any of the drifted boats turn turtle. Many of the boats are smaller in size and are vulnerable to heavy winds, they said. “The mini-ship of the Coast Guard and high speed crafts with coastal police and marine enforcement could not rescue anyone until 8pm. Only a rescue from the air could be fast and effective. However, climatic conditions do not allow this as there is low visibility due to fog,” said a senior coastal police official.
The Coast Guard had rushed three vessels namely INS Shardul, INS Nireekshak and INS Kabra from Kochi before evening. Helicopters and Dornier aircrafts were on standby due to adverse weather conditions at the time of going to print. Most of the boats might have run out of fuel after having to struggle through rough seas. Only four out of 24 boats that went to sea from Poonthura returned, say local social workers.
