TIRUPPUR: Heavy rain which lashed Tiruppur city since Tuesday night left at least 500 houses waterlogged.
According to official records, the Collector's Camp office area recorded the maximum rainfall of 167 mm, followed by Tiruppur North Taluk office ( 60 mm ), Tiruppur South Taluk Office (52 mm) and collectorate (37 till Wednesday morning.
Speaking to TNIE, P Ramachandran, a resident of Mummoorthy Nagar said,” There was heavy rain for six hours which led to waterlogging in our locality. The water level rose around 4 am and entered all the houses in the area. Since our locality is one of the low-lying areas, we are facing the problem every year.”
Sathish Kumar, another resident, said, "Overnight rains took entire residents by surprise. A few individuals had blocked small water streams for their personal gains and it caused flooding in some areas. I along with my wife had to use plastic wipers and buckets to push out water from our house.”
Thirugnana Sambandam of the Noyyal Farmers Protection Association said, "Many water streams run inside the city and they act as stormwater drains during the rainy season. These have been blocked by private individuals. With the sudden rain, these drains weren’t capable of handling large volumes of water”
An official from Tiruppur District Administration said, "Tiruppur North Tahsildar B Maheswaran inspected affected areas along with officials from city Tiruppur Corporation. Water had entered 250 houses in Arivoli Nagar in Mannarai, 150 houses in Mummoorthy Nagar 50 houses in Karupparayan Kovil Street, 30 houses in Ramanathapuram in Velampalayam.”
He added they removed the clogs in several streams that had been obstructing water flow to Nallar and Noyyal rivers. Around 200 sanitary workers were deployed and 10 tankers were used to suck stagnant water. All areas were sprayed with disinfectants.”