The toll in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu since the onset of Northeast Monsoon on October 12 has risen to 327 with the recovery of more bodies from the affected areas since Monday night.
Police said 24 highly decomposed bodies were recovered from Cuddalore, which bore the brunt of the rain fury, while seven bodies were cremated by their relatives without informing the authorities.
Apart from these seven bodies, police in all have recovered 42 bodies since Monday.
As the water receded in a number of marooned villages, the trail of havoc left by the rain fury came to the fore with the recovery of as many as 42 highly decomposed bodies, including 18 from various places.
These bodies were recovered from the police limits of the worst hit Sethiathope, Kammapuram, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram town, Puduchathiram, Devanampattinam, Cuddalore Port, Bhuvanagiri, Ramanaththam and Muthandikuppam, police sources said.
The sources said out of the 42 bodies, 38 had been identified and disposed off, while four highly decomposed bodies were yet to be identified.
Police in different limits had received complaints that 49 people were missing. They were also feared to have drowned in the floods, the sources said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, during her meeting with the Central team on November 17, had said that 158 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the state.
Since then, 169 people, including 84 in Ramanathapruam and Thanjavur where two buses were washed away in flash floods, have died in various parts of the State, taking the toll to 327.