Residents of fishing hamlets near Ennore Expressway may escape flooding this monsoon.
The water resources department (WRD) has undertaken repairs of the sea wall — boulders placed along the shoreline — at vulnerable points. The seawall was damaged during the Thane and Jal cyclones.
As a result, fishing hamlets of Tiruvottiyurkuppam and Mastankoilkuppam are affected whenever there is heavy rainfall. In Tiruvottiyurkuppam near Ennore, about 300 houses face the risk of flooding by seawater during high tide or when the sea turns rough.
Residents said during such times, they leave their houses and stay with friends and relatives elsewhere until water level recedes.
WRD is set to complete repairs on the damaged portions, nearly 100 metres, of the seawall at Tiruvottiyurkuppam under the MLA fund. “We are strengthening the seawall and raising its height by 2-3 metres to prevent high tides from flooding the hamlets,” said an official.
Near Mastankoilkuppam, seawall is being repaired along a distance of 150 metres. Several houses were damaged here during the monsoon last year. The work will be completed before the onset of the northeast monsoon.
Officials of WRD said the department maintained the seawall, covering a distance of nearly 10 km along Ennore Expressway, between Kasikoilkuppam and Mastankoilkuppam.
Other government agencies such as National Highways Authority of India and Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Limited maintain the stretches along Ennore High Road.
Machines are being put to use on the stretch of the road near Thiruchinangkuppam near Tiruvottiyur to strengthen the rubble mound seawall.
Meanwhile, WRD is awaiting sanction for a Rs. 26.58-crore project to strengthen the seawall, running for a distance of 5 km, between Nethaji Nagar and Nettukuppam.
