COIMBATORE: Three people were killed in rain-related incidents in Coimbatore district on Tuesday morning. While 57-year-old Muthammal alias Rajeshwari and her 15-year-old granddaughter Dhanapriya died after a landslide in Valparai caused their house to collapse, A Hariharasudhan (21) was killed in Gomangalam near Pollachi after his neighbour’s mud wall collapsed and fell on his home.
According to data available with the district administration, Coimbatore received an average of 65.50mm of rainfall between 8.30 am on Monday and 8.30 am on Tuesday, with Valparai receiving the highest rainfall of 239mm at Chinnakallar. Schools in Valparai and Nilgiris were closed on Tuesday due to heavy rains.
Two of the three main dams in the district — Siruvani and Pillur — are nearing full capacity of 50 and 100ft respectively, while the Aliyar dam in Pollachi is brimming at 120ft. Similarly, the Mettur dam in Salem district reached full capacity on Tuesday, for the first time since October 2022.
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AT 6 pm, 46,000 cusecs of surplus water was released from the Mettur dam and a flood warning was issued to people living along the banks of the Cauvery.
In Valparai, which is particularly vulnerable to rain-related mishaps, police said. A sudden landslide occurred at 4 am near Solaiyur Dam. The asbestos-roofed mud house in which Rajeshwari and Dhanapriya, a Class 10 student, were residing, collapsed as a result, burying them alive under the debris. Unfortunately, the incident went unnoticed till 6.45 am when locals informed Sheikalmudi police.
Dhanapriya’s parents lived in the same locality, near the Malukkuparai checkpost close to the dam, and the girl often stayed with her grandparents. Rajeshwari’s husband Arumugam, a security guard at a nearby private college, was working the night shift when the incident took place, police said. Their bodies were sent to the Valparai Government Hospital for postmortem.
In Gomangalam near Pollachi, 21-year-old BCom graduate, A Hariharasudhan from Thoppampatti, died after a wall collapsed on him His parents Anbalagan and Selvi, and sister Vedha Sri narrowly escaped with their lives, police said. The youth was promptly rushed to the Pollachi Government Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
Feeling their house in Gomangalam to be unlucky, the family had been living in a rented house at Chinnampalayam for the past few years. Chief Minister Stalin announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh from the CM’s Relief Fund to their kin. The district administration assured Rs 4-lakh accident compensation for each of the deceased.