CHENNAI : With an inflow of 2.3 lakh cusec, the Cauvery is in spate resulting in as many as 13,540 people being moved to relief camps in 11 districts, as per figures from the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday. Parts of Namakkal and neighbouring Erode districts bore the brunt of the flood waters, with several habitations in the low-lying areas heavily flooded. Totally, 2,346 persons were evacuated to 16 relief shelters in Namakkal, while 7,832 persons were accommodated in 67 camps in Erode district. So far, two people have died in the floods but officials termed the deaths as accidental. Police arrested 16 people in Erode district for taking selfies near flood waters.
Meanwhile, with the outflow from the Bavanisagar dam falling to 20,000 cusecs on Saturday evening, a semblance of normalcy returned to Sathy, where houses had been submerged and fields with standing crop inundated. However, Bavani and its surroundings remained badly hit. In Namakkal and Salem districts, people shifted from low-lying areas spent the seventh day in shelters. A part of the Mettur thermal station was affected while hundreds of acres of crops have been submerged in Salem. With surplus waters flowing through the Thamirabarani, several hundred acres of salt pans were submerged in Thoothukudi district.
Kollidam block in Nagapattinam, saw officials struggling to evacuate residents of villages flooded after Kollidam river breached its banks Friday. Only after waters touched 5 feet on Saturday did villagers cooperate, officials said. Kollidam and Cauvery flooded parts of Karur, Ariyalur and Tiruchy districts with hundreds of acres inundated.
CM to visit west TN
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will visit flood-hit areas in western TN on Sunday. Sources said he will leave Chennai by air at 6.20 am and reach Coimbatore by 7.30 am. From there, he will visit Bhavani, Pallipalayam, Kumarapalayam and Karungalpalayam by road. He will chair a meeting of Collectors at Erode.