More than 400 tanks, maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD) have received copious inflow, as incessant rains lashed the district for the fourth successive night on Monday night, inundating several residential areas and school premises, throwing normal life out of gear.
As many school premises remained waterlogged, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao declared holiday for schools on Tuesday though the rains abated on Tuesday.
He directed the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) to (CEO) to ascertain the building worthiness of all government school and anganwadis and to drain out stagnant rainwater on school premises.
Schools had remained closed on Monday also.
As per the rainfall figure on Tuesday morning, the district received 831.08 mm on Monday night and the average rainfall stood at 51.98 mm. The district headquarters received the highest rainfall of 94 mm followed by 78.20 in Rameswaram, officials said.
On Friday night, the district had received total rainfall of 803.80 mm and 1,127.10 mm rainfall on Sunday night.
Trees were uprooted at several places in the district. A more than 100-year-old banyan tree was uprooted near the Primary Health Centre at Uchipuli. The Vazhuthur – Periyapattinam road was cut off and people waded through knee-deep water to reach their houses in nearby villages.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao, accompanied by officials, inspected the rain-hit areas and the relief operations on Tuesday. He visited the affected areas and inspected draining out of stagnant rainwater in low-lying areas by the Municipalities and Rural Development Department. He directed the PWD and local body officials to monitor the water level in all waterbodies in the district and strengthen the bunds to avert breaches. The Collector also directed the Electricity Board to restore power supply in areas, where electric poles had fallen and the Highways department to remove fallen trees, which disrupted traffic.
Mr. Rao asked the Fisheries department officials to update weather reports to fishermen and ensure they do not venture into the sea for fishing till the weather cleared.
PWD Executive Engineer S. Venkita Krishnan said of the 499 tanks maintained by the department, 16 were 25% full, 57 - 25 to 50% full, 234 - 50 to 75% full, 142 - 75 to 99% full and 50 tanks had reached the full capacity. PWD officials were keeping a close vigil on all waterbodies and there has been no report of breaches, he said.
The 224 minor irrigation tanks and 988 ooranies also received good inflow. Most of them had reached their full capacities, officials said.
