TIRUNELVELI: With north-east monsoon season beginning in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the Tirunelveli corporation stepped up flood mitigation measures, with focus on areas that were badly affected in December 2023.
According to a corporation statement, commissioner Dr Monika Rana formed flood relief teams in all four zones – Tirunelveli, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam, and Thachanallur – comprising assistant engineers, health officials, and sanitation staff. The teams will identify vulnerable areas, collect contact details of families, and set up WhatsApp groups with volunteers and community members to share updates on rescue and relief operations. Flood relief camp locations, including schools and community halls, will be communicated in advance.
Also, she directed field staff to identify structurally weak buildings and report them to the monitoring teams so that occupants in those buildings could be moved to safety. Later in the day, she inspected the storm water drain in Melapalayam and instructed officials to ensure water flows freely without blockages. She appealed to the public to avoid dumping waste in stormwater drains to prevent flooding.
Meanwhile, the Tirunelveli city congress unit president K Sankara Pandian and party cadre staged a protest by sitting on chairs in stagnant rainwater near Palayamkottai bus stand and fishing.