Chennai: Fifteen sailors stranded on a ship that ran aground off the Chennai coast as Cyclone Nilam made landfall on Wednesday, have been rescued by Coast Guard choppers. Five crew members of the oil tanker MT Cauvery are still missing and search operations are on. One crew member had died yesterday. One more death has been reported in a storm-related incident since last evening.

The cyclone crossed Chennai and made landfall in neighbouring Mahabalipuram at about 4.30 pm on Wednesday. It did not hit with the force that it was expected to and that, along with administrative preparedness, ensured minimum damage. Chennai is normal this morning after officials worked through the night to clear roads of fallen trees and other debris. It is not raining in Tamil Nadu’s capital city.

Schools and colleges in Chennai have been closed since Tuesday and are also closed today.

There is no electricity supply yet in most parts of Mahabalipuram, where almost 200 lamp posts fell as the cyclone brought windspeed of up to 100 km per hour last evening. The authorities disconnected power supply as a precaution and say it will be restored by this evening. Before landfall, almost 4000 people were evacuated from low lying areas in this temple town and they are now at relief camps set up by the government. There are reports of some loss of cattle.
In Puducherry, a 46-year-old man fell into the rough sea and drowned last evening.

The oil tanker MT Cauvery was berthed at the Chennai port for over a month and was moved to the outer anchorage as a precautionary measure following the cyclone alert. A senior official at the port told 37-member crew, 17 attempted to escape using a life boat but the gale toppled it. One died and 16 are being treated at a private hospital. Six are still missing.” Four of those rescued are in the ICU, but in stable condition.

Doctors quoted the sailors as saying that they had run out of fuel and food and after the ship was grounded, the Captain told them to move out on the lifeboat.  The joint rescue operations for the rest of the crew by the police, Navy and Coast Guard were suspended twice on Wednesday due to gusty winds.

The sea is expected to be rough for the next 36 hours off the coast of north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh and the MeT department has advised total suspension of fishing operations and has asked coastal dwellers to move to safer places.

The last cyclone in India struck in the same southeast region in January, claiming 42 lives and leaving a trail of destruction across Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh state saw its worst cyclone in 1977 when more than 10,000 people were killed.