The death toll in cyclone hit Tamil Nadu has reached 86.

Cyclone Nisha, which crossed the coast near Karaikal, rendered thousands homeless and leaving a trail of destruction across the state. Crops more than one lakh acre of land were submerged.

Over 100 fishing boats were missing and 2,426 revenue villages had been fully damaged due to heavy rains.

Incessant rains for the past few days in Chennai caused extensive damage to roads and resulted in water logging in many areas, prompting the city road and rail transport to curtail services to a number of areas.

As many as 64 people died in Tamil Nadu as heavy rains lashed different parts of the state by the influence of cyclone NISHA which lay 20 km off the Nagapattinam district coast throwing normal life out of gear.

Authorities have evacuated more than 42,000 people from coastal hamlets and low-lying areas in Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur and housed them in relief camps.

64,000 hectares of crop officially declared flood-hit.

Heavy rains will continue for another 24 hours, informed Meterological office.

Most of the deaths were either due to electrocution or wall collapses, said an official.

Chennai, Nov 27 : Heavy rains triggered off by the inching cyclone ''Nisha'' towards the southern coast of India continued to lash Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu disrupting life on Thursday.

The streets in Chennai were literally submerged and traffic moved at a snail''s pace on the waterlogged streets.

People of the area complained that the rainwater had started entering their houses and the government was not taking any action.

Heavy rains, under the influence of the depression over the Bay of
Bengal, lashed different parts of Tamil Nadu. In the event, normal life
has been disrupted and already twenty eight people have lost there
lives.

According to the police most of the deaths have been either due to electrocution or wall collapses.

The Meteorological office has predicted that the depression, centred
about 50 km off the Vedaranyam coast, is likely cross the coast on
Wednesday evening between Vedanrayam and Pamban.

Thanjavur/Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Nov 26 : Heavy and continuous downpour for three days in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu has adversely hit the harvest of paddy crops causing a huge loss to farmers.

Large areas of paddy fields submerged under water due to incessant rain have left the farmers complaining.

“Last few days in Thanjavur district, there has been continuous rainfall. Due to heavy rains, paddy crops are submerged in water. Around 3000 hectares of land has been damaged due to water logging in Kalimedu, Sankasamam, Kadampakudi and Thenakudi.

Coimbatore, Nov 26 : The capacity utilization of the textile industry in Tamil Nadu, hit by the ongoing slump in the demand in international markets and the acute power shortage, has dropped by 72 percent.

With an investment of almost 50 billion rupees, the textile industry in the state is in a dismal state.