Many central districts get good rain

TIRUCHI/THANJAVUR

Several parts of the central region, including Tiruchi and the Cauvery delta districts, received moderate to heavy rainfall on Friday morning as the northeast monsoon turned active.

Tiruchi residents woke up to a steady drizzle, which turned heavy occasionally, till about 11 in the morning. There was a let up in the rain subsequently in the city. The widespread rain is expected to be beneficial for farmers in rain-fed areas of the district.

As a precautionary measure, the district authorities in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam amd Mayiladuthurai, besides Karaikal in Puducherry, declared a holiday for schools in the respective districts.

Precipitation of more than 30 mm was recorded in Thanjavur, Pattukottai and Budalur taluks in Thanjavur district on Friday while it hovered between 10 to 30 mm in other taluks. Steady rainfall accompanied by breeze in the morning hours of Friday caused a drop in temperature in Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Karaikal districts.

Though the sky cleared up during the course of the day, Deepavali sale was affected as most people chose to remain indoors, according to the traders.

Tiruvarur and Nannilam in Tiruvarur district received heavy overnight rainfall. Collector P.Gayathri Krishnan said efforts had been initiated to prevent further damage to the parapet of Kamalalayam tank.

Disclosing this after inspecting the tank’s parapet in front of the municipal office which caved in due to heavy rain a few days ago, the Collector said that Public Works Department, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department and civic officials have been directed to monitor the condition of the damaged portion of the parapet and initiate steps to prevent further damage.

Apart from keeping an eye on the Kamalalayam tank, the PWD, local body and Agriculture officials have been directed to ensure the samba/thaladi crop transplanted/raised in the district did not get affected by water logging due to the incessant down pour. As part of this exercise, the beneficiaries of `100-days work scheme’ were deployed in the works such as draining of excess water, clearing of weeds from drain channels and related works, she added.

As a precautionary measure, the Nagapattinam district administration has kept ready 955 cyclone relief camps and identified nearly 6,500 first-level responders to act in emergency situations.

Collector A. Arun Thamburaj said people could convey information of any untoward incident caused by rainfall to the Emergency Control Room by availing themselves of the utility of toll-free number 1077, and 04365-251922.

The Mayiladuthurai district administration reviewed the level of preparedness of police, fire and rescue services, coastal security group, home guards and NCC units of colleges for ensuring rapid response to emergency situations.

The Karaikal district administration on Friday completed a two-day training programme for 40 Civil Defence Volunteers to respond to emergency situations like collapse of buildings and rescuing people stranded due to the rainfall. A team from the National Disaster Response Force based in Arakonam imparted the training.

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