The Hindu : Front Page : Breach in Gundur lake bund, Chengalpattu town inundated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005

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Breach in Gundur lake bund, Chengalpattu town inundated

V. Venkatasubramanian

Residential localities were in waist-deep water as it gushed through the broken bund

WADING THROUGH WATER: Old GST Road in Chengalpattu town flooded on Tuesday morning with the breaching of Gundur Lake. — Photo : A. Muralitharan

CHENGALPATTU: The breach of a bund in the Gundur lake resulted in flooding of Chengalpattu town and disruption of traffic on Old Grand Southern Trunk Road for more than eight hours on Tuesday.

Residents of Anna Nagar, Gokulapuram, Vedachalam Nagar, Bhavani Nagar, Ramakrishna Nagar and Anumantha Putheri were taken by surprise when they noticed a rise in the level of water, flowing through the streets of their colonies from 6 a.m. The situation turned worse by 7.30 a.m. when water rose to waist-level in their homes.

Only later did the residents come to know about the breaching of the lake bund, near Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School.

After inundating the residential localities, floodwater flowed on the carriageway between the New Bus Stand and the Government Hospital of the Old GST Road. Traffic through the town was stopped. While vehicles coming from Tambaram were diverted through National Highway bypass, public transport vehicles from Kancheepuram were terminated near the old bus stand and those from Mamallapuram near the railway track.

Autorickshaw drivers demanded exorbitant fares to transport people from the old bus stand to reach the unaffected areas of the town via the NH bypass.

Some tracks at the Chengalpattu Station were flooded in the morning hours, which necessitated regulation of certain EMU services originating from the Chengalpattu junction. Vehicular traffic on Old GST Road through the town was restored in the afternoon after the water level receded.

Cracks in bunds

Some villages located on the bunds of the Palar near Chengalpattu were surrounded by water after the bunds of Kavithandalam lake in Uthiramerur block developed cracks.

Water from the lake inundated Vadapathi Meiyur, Kilapur, Pazhayanur, Natarajapuram `Samathuvapuram' and Thandalam Colony before flowing into the Palar.

The breaching of Nelvoi lake near Thirukazhukundram led to inundation of Pulikundram Colony area.

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