MY FIRST TRYST WITH A CYCLONE, HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND GROUNDED SHIP
MY FIRST TRYST WITH A CYCLONE, HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND GROUNDED SHIP
I, a schoolboy of 8th Standard then,
specifically remember that on 3.11.1966 (Thursday), Madras (now Chennai) was
confronted with a devastating cyclone and heavy downpours as part of the
North-east monsoon. Till 6.11.1966 (Sunday) it rained continually. There was the storm-induced deluge all across Madras with strong gales of a speed of 120 KM and above
lashing the city taking people unawares.
With no other choice available to find out whether the school had
declared holiday due to inclement weather, I had to walk along barefoot from
my house in Chepauk to my school ‘The Kellett’ at Triplicane, 2 KM away.
I didn’t know whether a cyclone/rain warning was given? At least, I
had no source of information. Those days Radio/Transistor was almost a luxury
item and certainly our family couldn’t afford and didn't have one. And only very rich people
had a landline telephone. In absence
of TVs, Computers, Internet, WhatsApp and a plethora of other communication
portals, gadgets, cyber-space and media as available today, I had to necessarily reach the school by
stretching my legs braving the rains wading through puddles of water even gushing at times
along the route, to get the news of ‘closure of the school due to rains’
displayed on the school notice-board. On the way, I saw many uprooted trees,
blown-away mangled asbestos roofs, felled lamp posts, and broken power/telecom lines and out-of-shape name-boards strewn all over. There were many flying-saucers moving in the air, threatening the passers-by. I had a narrow escape from one of them. There was
chaos with many damaged things lying here and there. En route I saw umbrellas carried by many got twisted bottom-up.
Drainage and sewage line potholes got opened in many places with over-spilling drainage/sewage
water generating stench. Electricity remained cut off for days together. Protecting myself under shelters wherever I could find to escape the downpours, I returned home fully drenched and
got mouthful from my parents.
The devastating cyclone made landfall during November 3-6 killing
over 50 people and leaving thousands homeless. The day brought another
misfortune. Of the ships anchored, four vessels were dragged ashore. ‘Progress’,
in fact, smashed against the breakwater arm and sank up to its rail. The
others, Stematis, Mari Hora, and State of Rajasthan beached further south, the
Mari Hora splitting herself amidships. 18 lives were lost among the Chinese
crew of ‘Progress’. ‘Progress’ almost split into two and about 25 crew
members, mostly Chinese, reportedly died.
The Stamatis and Marore, jostling violently under the impact of the
storm, drifted. While Marore ran aground off the Port Trust marshalling yard,
‘Stamatis’ was dragged further and reached the shore of Marina beach. The ship
was pushed ashore with such a force that nearly half of it got deeply buried
into the coast sand. After retrieval efforts failed, it was declared as
'wrecked' since it developed a big crack amidship. With further attempts to
pull the ship out of the sand beginning, large crowds used to throng the beach
to witness the operations. M/s. Diana Maritime Corporation, the owners, agreed to
sell what was remaining of that ship for a scrap value of ₹3.3 lakhs to a local company
which dismantled the ship part by part. However, the wreckage could not be
completely extricated and recovered.
In the world-famous Marina, there used to be water stagnation on
the long sandy stretches like a big pond or reservoir after every heavy
downpour especially during monsoon seasons. Rains over, children of the area
including me, used to play there. However, we, the boys of the area were not
happy with the reservoir of water collected on the sands of the beach. For, it
would have submerged 'our improvised pitch' in the middle of the sands, on which
we used to play Cricket and other games during evenings including at week-ends
then.
Once it was calm after the storm, the grounded ship attracted
streams of visitors almost daily. I was one such daily visitor to the
beach to have a closer look and keep abreast of its status. For many
years, it remained uncleared.
The ruined ship, cynosure to curious onlookers, soon turned into a
death trap. Many who swam close to it were not aware of the buried sharp steel
girders and thus got often fatally injured. The particular location remained a
death trap for years. In January 1983, over three days that followed Pongal, 19
dead bodies were washed ashore. The tragedy created panic among people.
In 1990, a major effort was made to overhaul and clear the wreckage. A Bombay-based company mobilized more than 30 workers to wrap the broken ship with wires and tried to haul it with the help of two winches. The wreckage was removed, but not completely. There were still nuggets of the wreckage that remained deeply buried underwater close to the site where it beached. For many years, the Police used to cordon off the specific danger area where the death trap lay intact and even erected warning display boards to keep people away from the trouble-spot on the shore for the benefit of surging crowds thronging the Marine Beach in evenings, weekends, and specifically on the day of “Kaanum Pongal’ (sight-seeing galore) as part of the celebrations of Tamil Nadu’s days-long harvest festival ‘Pongal’ during January every year, when people fanned out to many attractive spots in the city including the Marina Beach.
Of course, I don’t know the present status of that particular spot
now!
R.SAMPATH
22/5/2020
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