Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Rain subsides but agony of residents continues

— Photo: M. Moorthy

Wading exercise: Water from Kollankulam overflowing across the Tiruchi-Dindigul Highway near Karumandapam in Tiruchi on Friday.

TIRUCHI: The rain abated on Friday but the agony continued for residents in low-lying colonies in Tiruchi and scores of other inundated villages across the district.

There was no rain in the City for most part of the day and even the sun shone brightly occasionally, but the torrential downpour of the past four days continued to torment the residents and villagers.

Residents of many colonies in the City and villages elsewhere in the district woke up to see their houses surrounded by water this morning.

The Uyakkondan river, which was on spate, breached its course in at least four places and so did the bunds of 15 tanks along the river’s course, bringing a torrent of water into the low-lying residential colonies across the cities and inundating paddy fields in hundreds of hectares in the Tiruverambur block.

Breaches and overflows were reported in several other irrigation channels and drains including the Kili Vaical and Kuvalai Vaical. The Pullampadi area was also badly affected with several villages being inundated.

The Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway was cut off near Pudukudi, since Thursday night, and traffic was diverted.

Surplus waters from the Kollankulam overflowed across the Dindigul Highway near Karumandapam.

The surplus flows from tanks and canals engulfed colonies off the Tiruchi-Dindigul Highway, the Tiruchi-Madurai Highway, the Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway and the Tiruchi-Chennai Highway, apart from those on the Vayalur Road and Kuzhumani Road.

Most colonies were inundated with three to four feet of water.

Water entered pucca houses in some of these colonies. Many residents moved upstairs along with household goods or shifted out the houses temporarily.

Transport Minister K. N. Nehru, accompanied by Collector T. Soundiah and Corporation Commissioner T. T. Balsamy, toured the City and the rural parts of the district extensively right through the day to supervise relief operations.

He instructed officials to remove encroachments, obstructing water flow in various places.

The Corporation distributed 17,000 food packets to affected residents. Forest Minister N. Selvaraj visited the rain-affected areas in the Musiri region.

Paddy fields in many parts of the district remained submerged under water. The Agriculture Department revised its crop damage estimates to about 25,000 hectares, including over 18,000 hectares of paddy. Maize and cotton crops in about 2,500 hectares were also feared to have been damaged.

The district received an average of 92.40 mm of rainfall during the 24 hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Friday, with Tiruchi Town recording the maximum of 182.50 mm.

The following were the chief amount of rainfall recorded in other centres during the same period in the district (in mm): Pullampadi 170.80; Nandhiyar and Tiruchi Junction 168 each; Golden Rock 164; Lalgudi 160; Tiruchi Airport 154.80; Samayapuram 128.50; Navalurkuttapattu 110; Devimangalam 96.40; Vathalai 80; Thathaiyengarpet 70; Musiri and Thuraiyur 60 each; Koppampatti 57; Manapparai 54; Sirugudi 45; Kallakudi 31.20; Pulivalam 30; Ponnaniyar Dam 18.40; Kovilpatti 17.40 and Marungapuri 6.20.

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