CHENNAI: Utharapathi, a fisherman from Indira Gandhi Kuppam in Tiruvottiyur watches the remnants of his brick house being battered by waves and winds. “In the last 55 years I’ve lived here, only the tsunami was worse than this,” says the fisherman who refuses to move to the rehabilitation centre opened by the revenue department.

Even before crossing land, cyclone Thane has demonstrated its destructive potential along the coast north of Chennai, but government agencies are finding it tough to move people living here to safer places inland, as they cling on to their crumbling dwellings. The signs have not been good. Rising tidal waves have been lashing the breakwater built along the Ennore highway, scattering huge stones onto the road. Some of them fell on Utharapathi’s brick house, bringing it down. Winds have blown away several huts into which swelling waves have entered.

Officials of Chennai Corporation and the revenue department are working overtime to meet the challenge. But the going got tough as schools and community halls identified as shelters remained deserted for most part of the day. “We arranged jeeps, autorickshaws and buses to get people to these relief centres. But they came for the food and went back,” said Kumar, revenue inspector of Madhavaram ward.

People had their reasons. “We heard the police going around requesting people to move away from the coast, but we were not aware of the relief centres,” said D Jayarani, neighbour of Utharapathi who lives less than half a kilometer from the Annai Sivagami Nagar relief centre.

Earlier in the day, local administration minister K P Munusamy and the mayor Saidai S Duraisamy visited some of the affect areas. “We have decided to move all the families living near the sea. In the morning we asked them to move to their relatives’ houses inland. If they don’t have any, they can move into the community halls or schools which will be open round the clock,” the minister said.

There are two relief centres at Ennore and Tiruvottiyur. Officials at the Tiruvottiyur relief centre said they had prepared food for more than 5,000 people since Wednesday afternoon. Officials may have to up their current capacity as the met department predicts a possibility of a storm surge of about 1.5 metres high. “This would possibly inundate low lying areas of Puducherry, Villupuram and Greater Chennai,” said an official from the Met department.