Tamil Nadu continues to reel under rain, inundation, CM speaks to collectors

Rain continued to batter several districts across Tamil Nadu on Friday and the Thamirabarani river was in spate due to continuous downpour in the southern districtsTamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin called up the collectors of Tirunelveli Tenkasi and Thoothukudi districts and enquired with them about the damage caused by the rain and the steps being taken to ensure peoples safetyI enquired with the district collectors and district monitoring officers about the relief work being carried out to protect the people from the heavy rain the Chief Minister said in a post on the social media platform XHe instructed the official to take adequate precautions and have sufficient stock of the essential commodities and medicinesThe three southern districts are experiencing heavy rain State Ministers and senior officials have been dispatched to the respective districts to monitor the relief and rescue activities Stalin told reporters after visiting the 24hour State Emergency Operations Centre at Ezhilagam hereHe was in constant touch with the Ministers and officials and was closely monitoring the situation There is no major damage at present The state government is ready to deal with the present situation he saidReservoirs and tanks across the state were fast filling up due to copious inflows and as of today 90 reservoirs have a combined storage of 8361 per cent according to the Water Resources DepartmentIn Chennai six lakes which are the source of drinking water supply have a combined storage of 8769 per cent ie 11587 Mcft against the total capacity of 13213 Mcft million cubic feet Of them about 16500 cusecs of surplus water is being discharged from the Poondi 500 cusecs from Redhills and 4500 cusecs is being released from the Chembarambakkam lakeThe Thoothukudi district administration has issued a flood warning in the Srivaikuntam and Eral areas owing to the heavy inflows into the Thamirabarani river People in lowlying areas have been advised to shift to safe placesDue to a torrential rain upstream of Thamirabarani a flood warning was issued to all villages and towns situated on the banks of the river the administration saidThe revenue officials have been instructed to evacuate the people from all vulnerable places in Srivaikundam and Eral Police and Fire and rescue services personnel have asked people to shift to safer areasIn Maduranthakam in neighbouring Chengalpattu district a private bus that got stranded in rainwater had to be towed to safety by the police and public None of the passengers in the bus or its crew were injuredWhile a house collapsed in Suthamalli in Tirunelveli district and a Primary Health Centre in Vadakarai in Tenkasi district was inundated following overnight rain rainwater entered the Sankaranarayana temple in SankarankoilThe IMD has forecast heavy rain in 14 districts due to a wellmarked lowpressure area over the Southwest Bay of Bengal off Sri Lanka coast which lay over the Gulf of Mannar and neighbourhood The system is very likely to continue to move westnorthwestwards towards South Tamil Nadu and weaken gradually into a lowpressure area during the next 12 hours the IMD saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever