Car swept away, 3 of family drown

Fire and rescue service personnel along with locals retrieving the car, which was caught in the flash floods near Sathyamangalam on Monday morning.

Three members of a family died after the car in which they were travelling was swept away by flood waters near Sathyamangalam in Erode district around midnight on Sunday.

The dead were identified as Senthil Vadivu (35), wife of Suresh, a resident of Car Street in Anthiyur, her daughter Vishnu Priya (13) and son Adithya Balaji (9).

Suresh, who was also in the car, and Murugan, the driver, were rescued by residents of the area.

Fire and Rescue Services personnel retrieved the bodies. The family was on their way back home after visiting friends in Coimbatore. The car was swept away while crossing a causeway near DG Puthur, which was submerged.

The causeway was constructed across the surplus weir of the Perumpallam reservoir, which has been overflowing for the past two days. The surplus course carried a huge amount of water on Sunday night as residents of Kemmanaickanpalayam damaged a portion of a check dam to prevent flood waters from entering the village.