There has been no respite from the rains for the people of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts, leaving farmers worried over the impact of the monsoon on the samba and thaladi paddy crop.
Several parts of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts received heavy overnight rainfall and the rain continued at many places on Saturday too. The overnight drizzle gave way to sunshine for a brief while before showers took over again in Thanjavur district.
The latest spell of rain has led to fresh inundation of paddy fields in Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts after many farmers had just managed to drain the water from the fields after the previous bouts of heavy rainfall.
Sirkazhi in Nagapattinam district recorded 195 mm of rainfall, while Kollidam registered 180 mm; Thalaignayiru recorded 150.60 mm, Tirupoondi 134.60 mm, Manalmedu 116.20 mm, Nagapattinam 92.60 mm and Mayiladuthurai 90.40 mm during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday.
Fishermen in several coastal hamlets of Nagapattinam district and those in Muthupettai in Tiruvarur district and Sethubavachatram, Adirampattinam and Mallipattinam, all in Thanjavur district, refrained from venturing into the sea that was rough and marked by high tossing waves.
An eight-year-old girl, M. Malathy, was killed when the walls of her house collapsed, trapping her beneath the falling debris at Seethakkamangalam near Kodavasal in Tiruvarur district on Friday night.
