Following heavy rain forecast for the next few days, the district administration has declared Monday and Tuesday as holidays for schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal.
Incessant rains throughout the night and heavy rains throughout the day disrupted normal life and flooded many low-lying areas in the city and suburbs.
District Collector Poorva Garg said that Puducherry received 37 mm of rain from 8.30 am on Saturday to 8.30 am on Sunday and 78 mm till 4 pm on Sunday.
Waterlogging occurred in several low-lying areas and stagnant water evacuation work was carried out at Poyakulam, Sankaradas Swamigal Nagar, Ganapati Nagar, Chelan Babu Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar in Villianur, Kirumpakkam, Kanniyakovil and Bahaur.
Outflow from Veedur Dam at 4 pm. 7,035 cusecs and it was 6,800 cusecs from Sathanur dam. The major Osudu and Bahaur tanks were filled to full tank level (FTL). The banks of the Shankarbarani and Thenpaniyar rivers were under constant surveillance/monitoring by the PWD officials. The Collector said that the fallen trees at the corner of Arvinder Street and Gingee Street were cut and removed immediately.
Heavy waterlogging was also reported in areas like Indira Gandhi statue, Rajiv Gandhi statue, Shivaji statue on ECR Road and Rainbow Nagar, Bassi Street, Solai Nagar, TV Nagar, Kosapalayam, Kompakkam, Acharyapuram, Kalmandapam and Ariyapalayam. Teams of PWD-Municipality departments were engaged in extracting excess water in these areas.
In Revenue (North) jurisdiction, around 80 persons in settlements behind the airport at Lospet and at Eriankuppam were shifted to relief centers after water entered their homes.
Meanwhile, after taking stock of the situation, Education Minister A. Namasivam directed the education department to declare a holiday for two more days for schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal after more rains were forecast.
The administration has already set up around 200 relief shelters to accommodate people who need evacuation from their homes due to heavy rains. Arrangements have been made to provide facilities in these camps. All relief shelters have been kept open and around 3,500 food packets have been distributed on Sunday. On Monday also, arrangements are being made to distribute food packets to the affected people.
As per the IMD’s forecast, there is a possibility of heavy rain tonight and all the government teams are ready for ground deployment for rescue and relief operations. The Collector said that the public should contact toll free lines 1070 and 1077 for any help related to this ongoing rain.