CHENNAI, India, Dec 31,(AFP) - At least 42 people including a French national were killed when a cyclone hit southern India, reports said today as engineers rushed to restore power supplies knocked out by the gale.
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| A man holding an umbrella watches large waves on the Marina beach as a cargo ship passes as Cyclone Thane hit Tamil Nadu. Reuters |
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said the death toll from Friday's cyclone had risen to 42 in the southern Indian state.
Cyclone Thane packing winds of up to 140 kilometres (85 miles) an hour lashed the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and the territory of Pondicherry on Friday, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction.
At least 26 people died in Tamil Nadu's worst-hit district of Cuddalore, the United News of India news agency said in a separate dispatch from state capital of Chennai. “Approximately 50,000 (thatched) huts are damaged by the high winds but we will get a clearer picture of the damage later today,” Cuddalore administrator V. Amuthavalli added.
Seven others were killed in the former French enclave of Pondicherry, other officials said by telephone.
France's government of Foreign Affairs said a French national had died in Pondicherry but gave no other details.
The other deaths were reported elsewhere in Tamil Nadu. Most of the deaths occurred due to electrocution and walls collapsing in the cyclone-hit regions, they said.
Rail and air traffic had resumed normal service today in Tamil Nadu after the cyclone weakened into a depression. |
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