A vigorous northeast monsoon rain paralyzed normal life of residents here on Tuesday. People living in urban and rural areas could not come out of their homes as incessant rainfall persisted since Monday evening.
Even as the rainfall eased from heavy to moderate from Tuesday, it continued to rain intermittently till late evening.
Over 19 cm rainfall
According to sources in the Public Department, over 19 cm of rainfall was recorded in Puducherry district. Residents had to stay inside their houses as heavy inundation face them at their doorsteps in thickly populated areas such as Venkata Nagar, Rainbow Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Challan Nagar, Suryagandhi Nagar, Natesan Nagar and several areas of Saram. Rainwater entered some houses early in the morning at Chellan Nagar.
First such time
R. Rangaprasad, resident of Chellan Nagar, said, “We’ve never seen floodwaters enter the house during rainy season. After the Electricity Department constructed a huge wall nearby, the entire floodwater has gushed into our house in the early morning. Since then, we were struggling to remove the water from the house.”
E. Ponmozhi, resident of Suryagandhi Nagar, said, “Waist-high water has inundated many houses in the neighborhood since morning. We can not step out of our houses to buy vegetables, milk packets or any other essentials. The whole flooding has been caused due to non-maintenance of canals/ drains. Refrigerator, sofa and other furniture are fully wet. We had to move the first floor of an adjacent house.”
Ganesh Nagar of Muthiyalpet, Uppalam, Boomiyanpet, Veerampattinam, Villianur, and several areas of Puducherry witnessed flooding inside the houses.
No de-silting of canal
A. Sajiv of Krishna Nagar said, “I could not go to office since the floodwater got inside the house. Even I was not able to start my bike to go out. The flood occurred only because there was no de-silting and maintenance in the canal which is flowing nearby area.”
Heavy showers in the night led to massive water-logging on the city roads on Tuesday morning. Roads around Indira Gandhi Statue seem to be the worst affected areas as Cuddalore Road, Villurpuram Road and East Coast Road were submerged in knee-deep water.
Commuters going to Villianur, Moolakulam, Kandamangalam and Villupuram were stuck in heavy traffic jams due to heavy water-logging on the roads.
Ramachandran, motorist who came from Moolakulam, said, “I am not able to cross the stretch as there is heavy flood here around. Some of the two-wheeler riders are not able to move their vehicle as the water has got into the silencer.”
Power sub-station inundated
The Puducherry Electricity Department’s sub-station at Marapalam was inundated. The electricity officials noticed water inside the trench for cables. Immediately, they pumped the water out from the trench.
Officials of the district administration, revenue, municipal administration, electricity, public works, health departments, police, fire service personnel were deployed to undertake relief works. Relief camps were opened and the people who were living in low-lying areas have been moved to relief camps. Food and medicines were provided to them.
District Collector D.Manikandan inspected all arrangement and relief works.
