Heavy rain lashed Dindigul on Tuesday morning that led to inundation of arterial roads and residential areas, especially Bharathipuram and Begumpur.
The city registered 90.4 mm of rainfall in a span of three hours till 10.30 a.m., said an official. What started as a drizzle since dawn, escalated to a downpour by 7.30 a.m. even as children were getting ready for school. Rainwater flooded Tiruchi Road, Main Road, Batlagundu bypass, keeping vehicle users off the road.
While the district administration did not declare a holiday, few private primary schools did not function. Many schools reported lower turnout of students.
The campus of Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School at Chathiram was flooded with more than one-foot depth of water. At least half of the wheels of new bicycles meant for distribution to the school students were submerged in the stagnant water.
Some of the residential areas such as Nagal Nagar and Bharathipuram were the worst affected with rainwater flooding the streets. The residents complained about sewage water mixing with rainwater flooding the streets. The water entered into few houses.
Fearing more showers in the evening, many schools alerted the parents and asked them to take home their children in the afternoon.
Collector N.M. Poongodi inspected the rain-affected areas, including the flooded rail underpass at Vedampatti.
Palani recorded 28 mm and other towns like Vedasandur, Oddanchathiram and Nilakottai also reported heavy rain in the morning.
However, the rain started to subside by noon and the district had reported an average rainfall of 39.2 cm. Palani had reported 93 mm till 2.30 p.m. while Dindigul city registered 91.8 mm.
Water started to drain from most of the areas, the official added.
Meanwhile, the rainfall received in the own catchment of Vaigai dam brought copious inflow to the reservoir. The entire inflow into the dam is being released into the river after the level in the dam touched the maximum level of 71 feet a few days back.
Even as the discharge was 2,563 cusecs in the morning, the sudden increase in the inflow to 5,148 cusecs led to increased discharge into the river at around 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
However, the inflow gradually reduced after a couple of hours, a Water Resources Department engineer said.
