People’s cheer at the arrival of the North East monsoon was dampened considerably on Sunday when just two spells of rains showed up the complete unpreparedness of the city to deal with the downpour.
Water-logged roads, traffic snarls and inundation of low level areas all pointed towards the failure to clean up storm water drains and canals adequately.
Just as the city was recovering from the Sunday showers, just a couple of hours’ rains on Tuesday, once again, completely threw the city out of gear.
As it happens unfailingly every year, there was water logging in the underpasses at Lanka Corner, Avanashi Road, Kikkani junction and at North Coimbatore flyover.
The area around the railway station was in a mess with flooding in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and Lanka Corner. In addition, Lakshmi Mills Junction, Singanallur bus stand, Ramanathapuram Junction, Puliakulam Road, Kamarajar Road (known as Nirmala College Road) were awash with water.
Water entered homes in the residential colony just behind the Lakshmi Mills and in other colonies along the Sanganur canal.
Sewage
Overflowing sewage and the rain turned the roads slushy and filthy. Movement of vehicles from West Coimbatore to East Coimbatore and from Avanashi Road side to Tiruchi Road was slow and traffic remained chaotic for hours on many arterial and feeder roads in the city.
A passenger missed his train as it took more than two hours for him to reach the railway station from Brooke Fields Mall because of traffic jam. Sheets of water covered the potholes leaving motorists in danger.
Uprooting of a huge tree on State Bank Road near Fire and Rescue Services Department office added to the woes. The newly laid UGD line on Nanjundapuram Road caved in, creating a huge crater. Sadly, though there was more than 300 mm of rain on Sunday, there was minimal increase in levels of water in the city’s tanks.
Choked drains and canals ensured the water did not flow into them.
The carrying capacity of the waterways have come down drastically owing to encroachments and failure to de-silt them periodically.
Litter in open storm water drains resulted in the inundation of roads.
The conditions on the roads of Coimbatore revealed the unpreparedness of the civic body, said K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause.
The rain and its impact only showed the failure of the pre-monsoon customary preparedness that should have been carried out either well ahead of South West monsoon or at least a little ahead of North East monsoon, he said.
Of course, the public also had a big role to play in the chaos thanks to their indiscriminate and irresponsible dumping of litter.
