Flood fury overwhelms in Tamil Nadu; railway suspends ops as water level rises over danger mark
Villupuram district in north Tamil Nadu continued to reel under unprecedented flooding on Monday following extremely heavy rainfall, virtually blocking access to villages and residential colonies as bridges and roads overflowed, inundating huge acreage of standing crops and affected rail and road traffic, leaving passengers stranded.
A total of 48 trains via Villupuram were affected, and Southern Railway in the evening announced restoration of services with speed restrictions and underlined that all efforts were underway to restore all the services in the route.
In Tiruvannamalai, tragedy unfolded as five bodies were recovered from a house crushed by a boulder that rolled down a hilltop following a mud slip on the night of December 1 during rains. A search was on for two more people.
Vehicles were submerged up to two feet and the roads came completely under water in several parts of Villupuram, and nearby Cuddalore, where residents were stunned by the flooding.
River Thenpennai was in spate, trees were uprooted in several areas and electricity poles were tilted. Several houses, particularly tiled tenements, at Aragandanallur in Villupuram were almost submerged with water level rising over 4 feet.
Parts of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts, in west Tamil Nadu, too witnessed floods unseen in the past two decades. Uthangarai in Krishnagiri district received a whopping 50 cm rainfall, Villupuram district received up to 42 cm, and Harur in Dharmapuri received 33 cm. Cuddalore and Tiruvannamalai recorded 16 cm, and all of which was from 8.30 am on December 1 to 8.30 am, on the following day. In Villupuram district alone, 3,617 persons have been housed in 65 relief shelters and 15 disaster relief teams are operational.
Many vehicles, including cars and vans were dragged by floods from a road at Uthangarai into low-lying area, shocking people.
Several of the vehicles were owned by local tour operators. Road access from Uthangarai to towns such as Krishnagiri and Tiruvannamalai has been affected due to heavy inundation.
A senior India Meteorological Department official here told PTI that the extremely heavy rainfall was due to the presence of remnants of Cyclone Fengal in land areas. On the night of November 30, the cyclonic storm made the landfall near Puducherry.
With water rising above the danger level on an arterial bridge between Vikravandi and Mundiyampakkam in Villupuram, Southern Railway on Monday morning suspended operations in that key stretch, leading to cancellations, diversion and short termination of services, which includes express and superfast trains.
As a result, people flocked to the bus station, resulting in chaotic crowds and the traffic on the key Chennai-Tiruchirappalli national highway, in and around Villupuram, was also hit in view of flooding.
Well-connected Villupuram is the easy link between Chennai, other northern parts of the state and the central and southern regions of Tamil Nadu. Villupuram is located about 160 km from state capital Chennai.
As portions of a bridge were washed away, link to many villages near Aarani in Tiruvannamalai district was cut off. Similarly, bridges elsewhere, including the one at Karunapuram near Tindivanam, were submerged and water overflowed into nearby areas, virtually cutting access to villages. Water entered the Gingee government hospital prompting authorities to shift patients to hospitals elsewhere. Authorities diverted the Aaraniyaru surplus water to Chennai.
A farm produce warehouse was submerged at Vikravandi and many bags, containing groundnuts and other produce could be seen floating on water.
Raging flood water gushed towards low-lying areas and many localities of Villupuram town, nearby urban hubs and villages, and parts of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri were also marooned, bearing the brunt of the rain fury.
The Pochampalli police station in Krishnagiri district came under about 3 feet water and all around the premises, water could be seen moving with huge force. In Nilgiris, a 50-year old man was killed in a rain related incident.
In Puducherry, which witnessed 48.4 cm rains and four rain-related deaths, Chief Minister N Rangasamy announced a slew of relief measures, which includes Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 5,000 to each of the 3.54 lakh families under the Public Distribution system.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, meanwhile, visited Villupuram on Monday and interacted with the affected people and distributed relief to them. Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin also has held inspection in Villupuram. The government extended the deadline till December 10 for payment of power bills in six flood-hit districts of Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Tiruvannamalai.
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami visited Krishnagiri and urged the government to provide compensation to farmers and affected people.
On floods pushing vehicles into low-lying areas, Palaniswami said the owners, belonging to ordinary families, were dependent on vehicles for their business and batted for compensation to them.
The depression, the remnant of cyclonic storm Fengal over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, weakened into a Well-Marked Low Pressure Area on December 2 over north interior Tamil Nadu, the IMD said adding it is likely to emerge over southeast and adjoining east-central Arabian Sea off north Kerala-Karnataka coasts around December 3, 2024.
