Chennai (PTI): The toll in the heavy rains caused by cyclone Nisha in the past three days in Tamil Nadu rose to 86 on Friday as flood waters inundated several low-lying parts, including many localities here, rendering thousands homeless.

Though cyclone Nisha crossed the coast near Karaikal in the union territory of Puducherry yesterday, heavy rains continued to lash a number of places, including Chennai, Karaikal, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Tiruvarur districts, submerging standing crops in over one lakh acres.

As many as 2,426 revenue villages had been fully damaged due to heavy rains, the sources told PTI.

The flood situation in Chennai was grim with rain waters inundating several areas. The Adayar river, which runs through the city, was in spate following discharge of excess water from the Chembarambakkam lake.

The rains also caused extensive damage to roads and resulted in waterlogging in many areas, prompting the city road and rail transport to curtail services to many areas.

Several localities in the city like Mambalam and Vadapalani and suburbs remained under knee-deep water for the past few days. The city experienced 24 cm of rain in the 24 hours ending at 0830 hours today.

The sources said that a preliminary report of the damage had already been sent to the Centre and that a central team was likely to visit the state soon to assess the damage.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who inspected flood-hit areas in the city, expressed hope the Centre would sanction adequate funds for flood relief work.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam visited the rain hit villages in in Karaikal. The loss caused by the torrential rains in Puducherry and Karaikal had been put at Rs 100 crore, an official source told PTI. PTI SR COR KJV VS KC 11282207 DEL NNNN

Keyword RAINS-2ND LD TN Reference Filename ptis19 Source ID ptis Seq. No. 19 Take No. 2 Source PTIS Cat. Code PTIS-MDS Priority Words Time 22:08 Date 28 Nov '08w4ptis1