Battered By Floods, Cuddalore Turns to Tsunami Hero

Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu: As his heartbreaking wails rented the air, G Ookravel called out for God to change the cruel twist in his fate. The 38 year-old's wife and 18-year-old daughter were swept away by the gushing flood waters in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district last month.

"Right before my eyes. Right before my eyes," Ookravel kept repeating. "I could do nothing to save them. I wanted to go after them but then I thought of my two other children and stopped."

His two sons in their teens managed to reach higher ground when flash floods - triggered by torrential rain - struck the remote Visoor village, about an hour away from Cuddalore, on November 9. Ookravel, his 35-year-old wife Vasuki and daughter Kausalya tried to seek refuge on a tree.

But before she could climb the tree, Kausalya was washed away by the raging flood waters. Her mother too couldn't fight the tide and was swept away.

Neighbours who surround the rubble of what was once Ookravel's home are scared as another spell of heavy showers has been forecast for the region.

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"We can't even sleep at night if it rains. There were cyclones and heavy rains earlier too. But there never were flash floods here. We want a permanent solution. What the government is doing is just not enough," G Govindarajan, a farmer, explains.

With 13 deaths in this belt and over 75 reported in the region ravaged by heavy rain, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is taking no chances.

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She has deputed Rural Department Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi to monitor rescue and relief operations on the ground. As the Collector of Cuddalore in 2004, Mr Bedi led rehabilitation efforts in the district after the catastrophic tsunami. His quick thinking and stellar work had even earned him praise in 2006 from former US president Bill Clinton who, while touring the region, had asked for the "Cuddalore Model" to be replicated.

"During the day and even at night, we have men and machinery placed near bunds and dams to ensure there is no breach which leads to floods," Mr Bedi said as a large crowd of villagers waited for him.

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Since November, incessant rain in the district has claimed 75 lives, displaced over 40,000 people and destroyed over 30,000 acres of farm land.

The Army is on standby after the Met department predicted more showers.

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