VILLUPURAM: Nearly 4,500 people were evacuated from flood-affected areas and accommodated in temporary relief camps here as rain pounded the region, submerging several roads.
Due to the depression formed in the Bay of Bengal, heavy rains continued in the district since Sunday night, with Villupuram receiving 1,180 mm of overall rainfall and Marakkanam taluk recording 457 mm of rainfall in a single day. Rain water poured into the Buckingham canal, flooding the Puducherry-Chennai East Coast Road at Palathu Mudakku near Marakkanam, where water stagnated up to four feet high. Traffic has come to a grinding halt in the region since Wednesday morning. Several villages including Asapur, Alandhur, Siruvadi, Munnaur and Kandhadu and fishing villages such as Azhagankuppam, Vasavankuppam, Ekkiyarkuppam, Puthukuppam, Anumandhaikuppam, Setty Nagar, Nochikuppam and Koonimedu remain inundated.
The causeway in Vanniper village near Marakanam has submerged and the region has been surrounded by flood waters. Police and fire service personnel rushed to the village and rescued stranded people. Group houses in Kezhpettai near Marakkanam were damaged in the incessant rain.
The causeway connecting Ozhindiyapattu village and Puducherry to Tindivanam bypass submerged in the flood, disconnecting as many as 10 villages. Though the waters of the lake at Konjumangalam village was diverted through canals, the banks of the water body is in a precarious condition. The Revenue Department and locals have contained the situation by reinforcing the lake’s bank with sand bags.
Water bodies in Vanur region overflowed, with its waters stagnating in Perumpakkam, Aanpakkam, Ozhindiyapattu, and Kuyilapalyam villages. Water was released from Sathanur dam in Tiruvanamalai district on reaching full capacity, which raised the water levels in South Pennai river, Malataru river, Korai river and Ragavan canal.
Floods in Malataru drowned the causeway between Thenmangalam and Kooranur, due to which routes to Thenmagalam have been stopped, forcing stranded villagers to take long-winding routes through Melamangalam, Valayampattu, Perangiyur and Sarayamedu to reach Thiruvennainallur.
Suthukulam in Arasur village near Thiruvennainallur got damaged and water entered the area. Revenue Department personnel have brought the situation under control by repairing the damage. A lake in Senthanadu overflowed, submerging farm lands and houses in the village and Olliyampalayam. Water from Mettathur lake near Thirunavalur has damaged 700 acres of farm land.
Flood waters at Gingee entered the government hospital there, due to which patients in ground floor were shifted to the first floor as a safety measure.
Eleven express trains from south plying to Chennai via Villupruam were cancelled and 11 trains from Chennai were also cancelled. Twenty-three temporary relief camps have been opened.