On Friday night, Tirugnanasambandam died while carrying out relief work near T.P.K. Nagar off Manali Express Road. On Saturday morning, Geetha, in her early thirties, was found lamenting his death carrying her five-year-old daughter.
“There was no power and the water levels were so high,” says Geetha who resides at T.P.K Nagar. “There was nearly chest-deep water, no power supply and poor support from the government,” said M. Aravamuthan, who was at Sathyamoorthy Nagar, Manali Express Road.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were seen rescuing people.
Some distance away, in Sadayan Kuppam, where over 600 families reside, the situation was worse. The village was cut off from the main road by at least 15-ft-deep water. Here, workers in local industries and residents started lending a helping hand much before the government machinery swung into action.
M. Ramesh, a daily-wage labourer from Sadayan Kuppam, said that all these days food was available as many local people were helping them.
A group of people who run iron-and-steel units in the locality were among those who were waiting to go in a boat to distribute food to the villagers.
