LEAD: 19 killed as Cyclone Thane hits India's southern coast

Dec 30, 2011, 12:35 GMT

New Delhi - At least 19 people were killed and thousands of homes damaged when Cyclone Thane hit coastal districts in southern India Friday, news reports said.

The storm over the Bay of Bengal hit the shore between Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and the federally administered territory of Pondicherry Friday morning, the Indian Meterological Department said.

Heavy rains and winds with speeds up to 140 kilometres per hour, inundated large areas, uprooted trees and power lines and disrupted transport.

Twelve people died in Cuddalore, either as a result of collapsing houses and trees, or electrocution by downed wires, officials told the CNN-IBN network. Another seven people were killed in Pondicherry, cut off from neighbouring areas as winds felled trees onto highways.

Traffic signals were ripped off their bases, shop signboards tossed about as people remained indoors through the day to escape the fury of the cyclone.

Heavy rains also lashed the southern metropolis of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, some 180 kilometres north of Cuddalore.

Cuddalore was the worst-hit region as badly damaged roads rendered it difficult for disaster management teams to reach the fishing hamlets. It was estimated that 5,000 homes of fishermen had been damaged in the region.

Even in Pondicherry, thatched huts and dwellings in slum areas were destroyed.

'We don't know what is happening in the outside world. Even mobile phone signals are not proper. All we hear is the howling of fierce wind. Many trees have fallen down,' a Pondicherry resident, S Ravikumar, told the IANS news agency.

Waves measuring 1.5 metres were hitting the shore, and fishermen had been advised not to venture into the rough sea.

Local agencies were on high alert, and train operations in the region were suspended. People living in low-lying areas were evacuated to 49 cyclone shelters, the report said.

In its latest bulletin, the Indian Meterological Department said the cyclonic storm had 'weakened rapidly into a deep depression' and lay 100 kilometres west of Cuddalore.

The IMD said there would be 'heavy to very heavy' rain accompanied by fierce winds in parts of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala until Saturday morning.

Cyclones often form over the Bay of Bengal, bringing widespread destruction and flooding on India's southern and eastern coasts.

Last year, 27 people were killed when Andhra Pradesh was battered by Cyclone Laila. More than 1,600 people were killed in a similar storm in Andhra Pradesh in November 1996.