Sunday's unprecedented rain troubled the residents and caught off-guard the Coimbatore Corporation, which was forced to stretch its resources in mitigating the effects of rain.
Choked drains, encroached canals only added to the Corporation's woes. Residents blamed lack of swift action and preventive measures from the Corporation, which had to address problems at various places in the city.
One the one hand it had to evacuate people from low-lying areas, arrest breached canals, divert water, clear blocks in canals, flush out water from subways, remove silt and throw open the roads at the earliest.
The Corporation did but not at the pace at which the people expected. It continued its action until Monday afternoon by deploying earthmovers, lorries and men to flush out water and remove silt from roads. It concentrated its efforts in the underpasses in the city and at Lanka Corner, Ammankulam intersection, Nava India, Lakshmi Mills junction, Avanashi Road, Women's Polytechnic and a few other places. The reason attributed to the flooding: blocked drains that the Corporation had not cleaned for a long time. And at other places like Nanjundapuram it is inadequate infrastructure. Residents off Nanjundapuram Road said that the civic body had carried out very little corrective action to prevent flooding on the road, which gets affected even after a mild shower.
Sanganur Canal is another instance. It did not carry as much as it should have. The reason: reduction in width due to encroachment. It carried only 50 per cent of its actual capacity. The water that was to flow into the canal was on the road as the Corporation had taken very little effort to route the water into it.
The impact of flooding is traffic jam, as witnessed on Sunday. Many city residents who were out on Sunday and used the Avanashi Road were in for trouble as they spent hours to move their vehicles. A speaker at a function said on Monday that the Corporation seems to wake up to flooding problems on Avanashi Road only after it actually happens.
Corporation Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy said the unprecedented rainfall caught the Corporation off guard. It, however, did its best to overcome the problem. Sunday's instance should not be cited to blame the Corporation because it had taken all possible efforts to mitigate the impact of rain. People in slums, whose houses were inundated, had been evacuated to Corporation schools and wedding halls. The houses that they constructed encroaching upon public spaces and water bodies could be demolished only after the houses constructed under the Basic Services for Urban Poor scheme was ready. Since the houses were not ready, the Corporation could not relocate them.
On Tuesday, Mayor S.M. Velusamy and Mr. Ponnusamy visited flood-affected areas in Gandhimanagar, off Sathyamangalam Road, Vadavalli, Veerakeralam, Kalveerampalayam and a few other areas.
(With inputs from V.S. Palaniappan, M. Soundariya Preetha and Karthik Madhavan)
