Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Anxiety over possibility of flood

— PHOTO: R. M. RAJARATHINAM

Hurdle: Vehicles struggling to negotiate the badly-damaged section of Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road near Senthaneerpuram on Wednesday.

TIRUCHI: Cyclonic storm, Nisha, brought heavy rain and chilly winds across Tiruchi district on Thursday.

Normal life was disrupted due to inclement weather conditions that had prevailed over the past four days. Schools and colleges in the district will remain closed for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

Anxiety heightened among residents in the low-lying areas of the city as the rain showed no sign of abating.

Some of the low-laying areas in the city were inundated with rainwater. “We turn paranoid every monsoon season and hopefully this rain spell would spare us of major trouble,” hoped S. Chithra, a housewife from Ramalinga Nagar.

Officials of the Public Works Department also kept their fingers crossed as there was a possibility of rains continuing.

The four major rivers in the city carried about 4,000 to 6,000 cusecs of rain flows into the Koraiyar, Ariyar, Uyyakondan and Kudamuritti rivers. On Wednesday evening, Grand Anicut realised about 17,204 cusecs of rain flows. At Upper Anicut (Mukkombu), the realisation was 6,566 cusecs and at the Kattalai Bed Regulator, further upstream, it was 8,320 cusecs.

But with the suspension of release of water in the Cauvery from Mettur reservoir and all irrigation canals, PWD authorities say that the situation was under control and manageable. “The closure of the irrigation canalsin time helped avoid inundation of crops and drain the rain water,” observed R. Subramanian, Deputy Secretary, District Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.

The absence of heavy rains in the Manapparai and Ponnaniyar region has ensured that there was no major flow in the jungle streams into the Koraiyar, officials observed. However, the water flow from Cholampatti and Peivari in Pudukottai district was flowing into the City.

Of the 187 tanks in Tiruchi, Thanjavur and Ariyalur districts under the River Conservation Division of the PWD, Tiruchi, 182 have filled up on Wednesday.

Some of the tanks such as Asoor and Devarayaneri tanks started to discharge surplus flow, inundating some low-lying residential colonies. The Narikurava colony in Devarayaneri was among the affected areas.

Eleven out of the 98 tanks under the PWD’s Ariyar Division were filled and the Kumbakudi tank was overflowing. There was no report of any crop damage so far.

Most of the city roads have taken a severe beating under the continuous rains. Huge potholes had developed in several places and more than a few stretches of the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road (where the four-lane project was underway) has been rendered unfit for motoring.

Commissioner T. T. Balsamy said the Corporation would begin repairing the roads after the rains abate, utilising Rs.24 crore sanctioned for the city recently.

The district received an average of 27.06 mm of rainfall during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The chief amount of rainfall recorded by various centres across the district during the same period was as follows (in mm): Kallakudi 51.20; Pullampadi 50.20; Nandhiyar 50; Tiruchi Town 46.50; Tiruchi Airport 46; Lalgudi 43; Golden Rock 42; Tiruchi Junction 38.20; Devimangalam 31.40; Samayapuram 30.20; Sirugudi 22; Pulivalam 20; Vathalai 18.20; Musiri 18; Navalurkuttapattu 17; Marungapuri 15.40; Manapparai 12.20; Thathaiyengarpet 11 and Thuraiyur 10.

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