For those in India - particularly in Southern India - the flood situation prevailing is something unheard of in the past. Even my 85 yr old mother says she has not heard anything to parallel to this in the past Century.
Cuddalore - Island Perambalur - Island Namakkal - Island Tirumangalam (Madruai) Island
2000 bues - with more number of lorries - 7 trains - about 200000 passengers stranded on the way - not able to go back or forward. No food, no toilet facility - no shelter amidst heavy showers.
400000 cusec in Kollidam, 250000 cusec in Cauvery, 70000 cusec in Thenpennai being released. Verranam - Madurantakam lakes in full capcity.
25 Kms long road in National highway washed out beyond Madurai; about 5 kms stretch in 3 places between Chennai - Trichy washed out in Grand South Trunk Rd.
Particularly around Veeranam lake - for about 200000 people in about 40 villages - the asylum is provided in the nearby Temples only!
These constructions only withstand the Flood-fury!
Really Monuments .. Today is World Heritage day ..
Thanjavur Big temple function - in the auspicious presence of Collector Mr. Veera Shanmugamani IAS - might have been underway in a subdued way with the Collector occupied in inspecting the flood affected areas.
Such down pours remind me of Sivakamiam Sabatham where Narasimha and Sivakami spend a rare time amidst heavy floods.. and she dances for the joy of marooned!
Really disheartening to hear the dimensions of nature's fury. Your stats picturise the calamity. You are right, the temples must have been built with such purposes in mind.
I wish the ASI function be postposed to a better date when many can attend.
As usual you have picturised the fury of nature. My father is one among the thousands who are strandard. He left to Thenkasi by Podhigai express day before and when I saw the news yesterday morning, I was taken aback. Tension filled minutes dialing the railway enquiry, trying to trace about the whereabouts of the train...and then my father....My god...worst minutes in my life..
God's grace, got news from Railway enquiry that the train is in Pullampadi and will return to chennai. Later was relaxed only when my father called from the cellphone borrowed from a copassenger and said the train is returning to chennai.
Evening, again he called and said the train didnt move even and inch and so he has taken a room in Ariayalur. We asked to stay there till every thing becomes normal. Today morning latest news was that a traini s leaving to chennai and he has boarded it. Hopefully by tonight he must be back home.
Parallely, news from my sister from Dindigul was another disturbing factro...water has entered her house due to the historical rain in Dindigul. No one has ever seen such rains in that part it seems. Irony is her motherinlaw is hospitalized due to heart problem. Difficulties come in line, it seems.
By gods grace things are fine now. Hope the rain stops and TN can limp back to normalcy soon.
Oh the rains!!! We, in Coimbatore, had the best rains in the last 30 years.The water level in our well has reached a very high level - which my father says happened only in 1960s!!!
I hope all members and their relatives of PS Group are safe.
That apart, me being a selfish guy wants a page on either thebigtemple.com or cholatemples.com to document how our great temples help us during natural calamities and the vision of our forefathers.
These things make a lot of sense and it helps people who are alien to our culture understand the role a temple plays in the life of a Indian.
'The Importance of a Temple in the Indian Society" - sounds like a cool title. ;-)
The situation was very bad yesterday. It was yet another 'Black Friday'.
Thousands of people have been saved due to the timely action of Thanjavur Collector Mr.Veera Shanmuga Moni IAS. He has been really vigilant keeping in touch with the local authorities, MLAs and others.
Thursday night couple of villages were evacuated. More than 1000 people were accommodated in the premises of a charitable choultry and school that is being run by our family.
Yesterday morning as the situation worsened after several breaches in the banks of coleroon(kollidam), more villages were evacuated. Nearly 3000 people are staying in our choultry. Another 100-odd people are staying in my grandfather's place.
Vazhkkai (what an irony!), Nakkampadi, Kudigadu, Sathyamangalam etc are some of the villages that have been entirely washed out.
Yesterday afternoon, I was told, the water in some of these villages was more than 5-6 feet.
Almost all the delta farmers of this region, have lost their crops and other belongings.
The collector had announced yesterday, that they will not divert water to cauvery from kollidam as the banks of cauvery are not as strong as those of kollidam. Even small breaches in the banks of cauvery, are strong enough to submerge the entire Thanjavur district.
By God's grace, the water level has receeded since early morning. Hope it continues to do so.
In this hour of need, we can really help them by only praying for their betterment. Let us do so.
Dear PS Group members I am new Member from Delhi. Here winter started. One of our Group member appeared in SUN TV Vanakkam Thamilakam two days back. During his discussions, he told told about this group and I have joined in this group.