The scene of Coimbatore Corporation's flood mitigation action on Wednesday was Sivaram Nagar in Ward 74.
The civic body under instructions from Mayor S.M. Velusamy and Corporation Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy moved its men and machinery there to remove encroachments on a choked channel to reduce flooding in the locality.
Mr. Ponnusamy said residents of the locality had constructed compound, bathroom and toilet right into the channel, reducing its width by eight – 13 feet. So much was the encroachment that the channel remained choked.
The result was that rainwater did not enter the channel and flooded the locality. Now that the channel had been restored, the rain water would run off into it.
The next step, he said, was to link the channel with Raja Vaikal to let the rain water into it and take it to River Noyyal.
The civic body would have to construct a channel for around 300 m. This would be taken up later.
He also said that the Corporation had requested the services of surveyors to mark the channel area and remove further encroachments.
The district administration under Collector M. Karunakaran had deputed two people for the purpose and the survey would soon begin.
At Kallukuzhi, near Puliakulam, the Corporation installed a 10-hp motor to pump out water.
Elsewhere in the city, the Commissioner said that the Corporation deployed its conservancy workers to remove slush and garbage from roads. The operations would continue if there were no rains on Thursday.
Meanwhile at the Collectorate Collector M. Karunakaran held a review meeting with officials to ascertain the preparedness level to meet emergencies.
A release from the administration said that the Collector had asked officials to be ready with sandbags to meet exigencies, keep in standby men and machinery to repair damaged roads, remove broken tree branches and fell trees and keep ready medicine to treat diseases that break out during monsoon.
He also advised officials to gauge and report damages to crops and take children to safer places from ICDS centres that leak. He also told them about the control room that had been established.
He asked them to share the number – 1077 – with the people and report about any rain-related issues on the number.
