TIRUVANNAMALAI: The sudden release of water to the tune 1.8 lakh cusecs from Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai district on Sunday night may have triggered the flooding in many areas along the Thenpennai river in Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, and Cuddalore districts, but lack of specific details about the level of flooding or pointed instruction to move to designated relief shelters, during the initial hours of the calamity, seem to have put the residents to avoidable trouble.
While the Tamil Nadu government had said that it did everything as per the standard operating procedure and alerted the people along the banks of the river, a visit by TNIE to many of these villages showed that a majority of the residents either did not receive proper alerts or the communication was insufficient.
TNIE visited Puthur Chekkadi, Rayandapuram, Thiruvathanur, and Kolamajanur villages, all of which were included in the fifth and final flood warning sent by the Assistant Executive Engineer of Sathanur Dam Sub-Division of Water Resources Department in the early hours of Monday to the Tahsildars of Thandarampet, Chengam, Tiruvannamalai and Tirukoilur taluks.
All these villages were affected in the floods. Most of villagers said that this was the worst flooding they have seen in their living memory, while some of the elderly people recalled a similar flooding in the early 1970s.
S Venkatesan from Puthur Chekkadi, which is home to over 500 houses, said that only a few people in the village received SMS alerts from the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, that too on Monday morning, when the village was already flooded. The message read, “Water is being released from Sathanur Dam. People living on the banks of Thenpennai river are advised to move to safer places.”
He further said that the village did not receive any alert over the four days preceding the flooding by any revenue official about the possibility of release of water. We had to rely on neighbours and our personal social networks to secure ourselves on Sunday night.
“Despite our efforts, the flood caused extensive damage," he told TNIE.
Residents of Rayandapuram, which has around 100 houses, said they received alerts between November 25 and November 30, but alleged that the warnings lacked specific details or pointed instructions to move to any designated relief shelter.
"They asked us to move but there was no mention of the extent of possible flooding. After witnessing the intensity of the rainfall on Sunday, we predicted the worst and shifted. However, there was no specific warning about release of such a huge quantity of water on Monday morning," said Ramaraj R, a 32-year-old resident of Rayandapuram.
The lack of alerts has left many villagers devastated, especially since they were unable to save their cattle, one of their primary sources of livelihood.
"If we had been warned in advance, we could have saved at least our cattle. Now, we’ve lost everything," said A Chandrababu, a villager.
Thiruvathanur residents said they relied on the announcements made via the loudspeaker in a local mosque. "None of the officials visited our village ahead of the bad weather. The updates came from the mosque. On Sunday night, we moved out seeing the river in spate," said S Gunasekaran from the village, adding that it is possible that the announcements made by mosques have come through officials.
Kolamajanur Panchayat residents echoed similar sentiments.
"No officials visited our place. On Sunday night, we saw the flow in the river and move ourselves to safety," said S Sakthi.
When contacted by TNIE, an Assistant Engineer from Sathanur Dam said, "Since November 25, we have issued all necessary alerts to the revenue department. Regarding Monday’s water release, we informed them early on Monday morning around 2.30 am. There is no fault on our side."
A senior official from Thandrampet taluk admitted that there might have been some gaps in communication.
“We received the alert on Monday 3.30 am from WRD. Some panchayats may have missed the alerts. However, we ensured that all villagers were evacuated from along the river belt swiftly," he said.
Residents in Arakandanallur, Devanur and Thirukovilur in Villupuram district also alleged that the warnings were not specific. S Ambath (35) from Thirukovilur stated that the flood warning was given through a van and loudspeaker across the main road in Thirukovilur on Novermber 29, 30 and December 1.
"However, it was not uncommon to receive such warnings during monsoons. So, people too did not take it seriously," he said.
Another resident, M Ramar (46) from Devanur said, "Many residents did not even hear the announcements since the vehicle went through the main roads alone. If they had come to every street and insisted on us leaving our homes as a precaution, we would have been safer."
Speaking to TNIE, forest minister K Ponmudy said that the damage happened despite all precautionary measures because of the unprecedented rains. "Officials did send out flood warning but even the government did not expect it to get this worse," he said.
Tiruvannamalai Collector D Baskarapandian reiterated that proactive measures had averted casualties. "We rescued everyone from the river belt due to timely action. There were no casualties, and that is the result of our coordinated efforts," he told TNIE.