Cyclone Ockhi continues to wreak havoc in Kerala, Tamil Nadu; Nirmala Sitharaman takes stock of rescue operations

As the death toll due to Cyclone Ockhi reached 16, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Kanyakumari on Sunday to review rescue operations in cyclone-affected regions. A total of 357 fishermen, including 71 from Tamil Nadu, stranded in the sea due to the cyclone, were rescued, Sitharaman said on Sunday.

A photograph on her official Twitter handle showed her inside a helicopter reviewing the search and rescue operations in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari.

"An update on the search and rescue efforts being done by the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force to save the lives of fishermen affected by #CycloneOckhi: 357 fishermen have been saved as of 10 am today," she wrote on her official Twitter handle.

Rescue efforts during Cyclone Ockhi. APRescue efforts during Cyclone Ockhi. AP

In a tweet, she said the navy rescued 121 fishermen from Kerala and Air Force rescued 15.

'No provision to declare cyclone a national calamity'

On Saturday, leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare Cyclone Ockhi a national calamity. The Centre on Sunday said the cyclone which wrecked havoc in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep, cannot be declared a national calamity as there is no such scheme, but assured all necessary assistance to tackle the situation.

Speaking to reporters after attending a high-level meeting chaired by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Secretariat, Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam said the Centre has already given necessary relief funds to the state government.

"We have received a memorandum from the state government requesting to declare the cyclone as a national calamity. But, there is no such scheme for the Centre to do the same," he said.

Though the Union tourism minister had earlier backed the Kerala government's contention that they had not received any prior warning about the cyclone, he later clarified that the central agencies had given necessary alerts on 28 and 29 November itself.

Kannanthanam, in the presence of Vijayan, earlier had stated that the state had received the cyclone alert only on 30 November and a clear prior warning had not been issued before that.

The Union minister later visited nearby Punthura, a coastal hamlet where fishermen are alleging delay in the rescue of their kin who had ventured into sea days ago.

He also said that 90 fishermen from the state were yet to be brought back to the shores.

On Sunday, 17 fishermen were rescued after spending five days in the sea off the Kerala coast, which was battered by strong winds and heavy rainfall under the influence of the cyclone.

Navy sources said 13 fishermen were rescued from the high seas by INS Kalpeni this morning and handed over to the authorities in Kollam.

An Air Force chopper rescued four fishermen about 30 miles west of Kayamkulam and brought them to a medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

Four aircraft of the Air Force, three of the Navy, and 10 naval ships have been undertaking search operations since morning. Coast Guard ships were also engaged in rescue efforts. Speaking to ANI, S Balachandran of the MET department said moderate rain is expected at some places in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. "Fishermen are asked not to venture into deep sea of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast till 25 December," he added.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said 28 more boats, carrying 321 fishermen, which were caught in rough seas due to the cyclone, have safely reached Maharashtra's Ratnagiri coast on Sunday. Of these, 23 are from Tamil Nadu, three from Kerala and two from Karnataka, he said. The boats are now docked at Mirya Bunder, Ratnagiri. All fishermen are safe and officials are looking after them with utmost care, the chief minister said. On Saturday Fadnavis tweeted that in all, 68 fishing boats, out of which 66 were from Kerala and two from Tamil Nadu, had reached Sindhudurg coast with 952 fishermen on board.

Meanwhile, in Ullal, three houses were damaged while the compound wall of a private resort collapsed as surging waves lashed the coast in the last two days. Seen as an after-effect of the cyclone, damage to the property by huge waves has occurred in most of the coastal areas, official sources said.

Two houses near the seashore at Ullal were completely destroyed by the waves while another one was partially damaged.

Lakshadweep islands, which were hit by Cyclone Ochki, have suffered a loss of over Rs 500 crore, Lakshadweep MP Mohammad Faizal said on Sunday. Faizal sought the Centre's assistance to restore normal life in the islands isolated by the storm.