COIMBATORE: Almost five days after a two and a half-year-old girl was washed away in a flash flood at Lower Nagarooth tribal settlement near Sarkkarpathy, officials recovered her body on Tuesday. The body was found at a feeder canal about 1.5 kilometres from the settlement.
Due to incessant rain in the district, big boulders had fallen into the contour canal near Sarkarpathy power house on Thursday night and blocked the flow of water. As a result, water had flooded the nearby tribal settlement of Lower Nagarooth and washed away over 22 huts.
Though officials reached the spot on time and rescued many residents, including six others who were caught in the flood waters, Sundari (2) was washed away.
Officials of Revenue, Forest, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and Police departments had been involved in the search operation for the past five days. They then began clearing the feeder canals to the Sarkkarpathy power house, a kilometre away from the settlement, with earthmovers. The canal had been filled with mud deposits after the several landslides and flash floods in the region. Around 6.50 pm, the body of the victim was found in a decomposed state at one of the canals. The body has been handed over to the government hospital in Vettaikaranpudhur for postmortem.
Meanwhile, the rescued tribal people have been accommodated in the Sarkkarpathy powerhouse office and provided with food.