By Sunil Raman BBC News, Tamil Nadu

A woman looks at the wreckage of her home in Nagappattinam

I was trying to visit a Muslim family that survived Sunday's disaster in Velanganni, a Christian pilgrim town.

On the road out from my base, the town of Nagappattinam, you could see the government relief effort which had got going on Wednesday.

Yellow earth movers with fresh stickers announcing the department they belonged to were driving into Nagappattinam.

Lorries with Relief Committee stickers were parked on roadsides and people were being handed out clothes.

Potholes were being filled with red sand by a group of workers.

Soldiers stood at a distance of every 100 metres. I knew that important visitors would be in soon.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due to visit Nagappattinam, as was Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, Jayalalitha.

'Water, water'

All of a sudden we saw a column of vehicles coming from the opposite direction. "Go back", people shouted to us in Tamil.

We did not understand what it was all about.

"Water, water," they said, as they drove past us.

Then I spoke on the phone to my BBC colleagues. They said government agencies were warning that in the afternoon fresh giant waves could hit the coast.

I had to head back to Nagappattinam to pick up my equipment.

As we sped back we were now travelling in the opposite direction to an exodus of people fleeing from Nagappattinam.

We were confronted by all kinds of vehicles.

Blaring horns, cars and lorries tried to find their way through hordes of people who had hit the roads.

A couple zipped past us on a scooter with the woman holding a brand new suitcase.

The relief effort has just been gaining momentum before Thursday's scare

People left with whatever they could grab from their homes. An old woman walked at a slow pace carrying a cloth bundle with her belongings.

A burqa-clad middle-aged woman looked crestfallen when she realised that she could not climb onto a truck. People called out to her but she looked on.

A group of weeping woman stood along the road looking for a vehicle to make their exit.

"Where will we go?" asked a woman, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Stop! Stop!" a few youngsters ran menacingly towards any car they saw had some space left. They tried to stop our vehicle too. They swore at us as we drove on.

'It is coming'

Trucks carrying people who were part of the clearing up operations in Nagappattinam and adjoining areas were also leaving.

Back in town we collected our stuff and headed back out on the road inland to Thiruvarur.

"It is coming", screamed a few men, fearful of the waves, who were escaping atop a lorry.

Now we were passing vehicles which seemed to be heading into what we thought was the danger area and that they were unaware of the warning.

Policemen frantically waved to people to turn back.

Even the bulldozers and earth movers were being used to ferry people away.

One old woman clutching on to her grandchild said, "They are saying that the wave is coming".

Her husband called out: "Come fast, there is no time to wait."