THENI/MADURAI
The sudden and widespread rain on Sunday in many parts of Theni district resulted in water flowing on roads in many low-lying areas.
After the continuous rains stopped a few days ago, the dry spell came as a big relief to the people. However, the respite was only brief as heavy rains lashed the district on Sunday, leaving many rivers in spate and many locations in Uthamapalayam, Veerapandi and Upparpatti inundated.
Rainwater entered Kaneeswaramudayar Temple in Veerapandi. Similarly, many coconut trees were either uprooted or washed away in Upparpatti.
Moolavaigai, Suruliaru, Varaganadhi and Manjalar rivers swelled. Revenue Department officials, along with Disaster Management team and first responders, alerted the people residing close to the rivers to move to relief centres.
In Vaigai dam, PWD officials said that they released 9,839 cusecs at 3 a.m. on Monday following the storage level reaching 70.2 feet (max level 71 ft). As the inflow into the reservoir steadily raised, the discharge was being done at 5 a.m., 9 a.m. and at 10 a.m., they released 11,035 cusecs.
The rainfall (in mm) till 6 a.m. on Monday was: Andipatti: 64, Bodinayakkanur: 98, Gudalur: 61.7, Uthamapalayam: 93, Veerapandi: 128 mm, officials added.
Madurai
Collector S Aneesh Shekhar inspected the Vaigai at forenoon on Monday along with officials from the PWD and Revenue departments to take stock of preparedness.
He appealed to the people to stay away from the riverbed and also stressed the need to ensure that the cattle belonging to the individuals were in their custody.
