While the heavy downpour on Wednesday night came as a relief for residents from the hot sun, the rain, accompanied by gusty wind, brought down trees, blocked roads and inundated several low-lying areas in the district.
Madurai received an average rainfall of 14.96 mm on Wednesday. Among the 20 major stations in the district, Madurai North recorded the highest precipitation of 51.80 mm followed by Idayapatti 45 mm, Andipatti 37 mm and Sholavandan 32.70 mm.
A few trees were uprooted by the strong winds. An official from the Fire and Rescue Services department said several trees were uprooted in Kochadai, Sammattipuram and Vilangudi. “We received calls from various parts of the city to remove uprooted trees on residential streets and main roads,” said the official.
An official from Tangedco said an uprooted tree fell on an electric cable at Tallakulam, leading to power outage. “But the issue was immediately rectified.”
Similarly, there was power outage for many hours at Arasaradi due to a damage to an electricity pole.
Tangedco (Metro, Madurai) Superintending Engineer S Vennila told The Hindu that about 10 teams comprising 100 staff and engineers from different sub-stations were working since Wednesday night. Apart from city limits, there were extensive complaints of tree fall from peripheral areas such as Anaiyur, Vilangudi and Virattipathu. About 30 electric poles were damaged.
“We have replaced them on a war-footing by mobilising our technical manpower from sub-stations. While tree falls over HT lines were cleared on Wednesday late night, those on LT lines were cleared by Thursday since the number of locations in the city were many,” she added.
