With rains lashing parts of Madurai district and other southern districts, the State Disaster Management Authority in Madurai on December 18, 2023, instructed officials to have the district disaster response teams on board to expedite rescue and rehabilitation work, if required.
Storage in the Vaigai dam reached 68 feet against its capacity of 71 feet. Following this, a flood warning was issued to low-lying areas in five districts: Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram, downstream from the dam . Officials said the water from the dam would be released anytime on Monday evening after another alert was given to residents.
A disaster management authority official said around 27 vulnerable areas have been identified including 16 in cities and 11 in rural areas, in the Madurai district where the fire and rescue department team have conducted mock drill exercises.
“Instructions have been given to all the five teams: interdepartmental nodal officers teams (11 teams), early warning teams (35 teams), relief and rescue team (35 teams), restoration teams (35 teams) and shelter and food teams (21 teams),” he added.
Each team will have internal teams of their own to manage operations and all the team heads such as Revenue Division Officers (RDOs), Corporation Assistant Commissioners, Municipality officials and Block Development Officers (BDOs) were instructed to alert their respective teams for any emergency, the official said.
“In addition to this, rescue and evacuation committee and traffic management committees, comprising officials at district, sub-divisional and taluk levels with eight members each, are on board,” he said.
About 50 relief shelters — schools, colleges, community halls — are ready to accommodate people. Further, an additional 145 relief shelters are earmarked to be utilized for emergency periods.
Animal relief shelters are arranged at Tallakulam, Samayanallur, Sedapatti, Melur and Thirumangalam in Madurai district.
“As there is no immediate rain alert for Madurai district, we have readied all the teams in case there is any emergency due to flooding or a sudden downpour of rain here,” the official noted.
