An alert late on Sunday night to evacuate people from the hamlets along Tamirabharani River, anticipating unprecedented flood, did not deter the spirited officials of Srivaikuntam taluk.
The speed at which the Revenue and Police officials worked, despite heavy downpour, from 10.30 p.m. on Sunday till 2.30 a.m. on Monday ensured minimum loss of lives in the taluk which was one of the worst-affected parts of Thoothukudi district.
While two died in the rain related incidents, as many as 2,400 people were evacuated to safety on that night.
“We got an alert from our Collector, G. Lakhsmipathy, about the ensuing danger as Tamirabharani was in a spate. Our teams fanned out to different hamlets, located within 500 metres, along the 22-km stretch of the banks of the river late in the night,” recalled Srivaikuntam Tahisildar, S. Sivakumar.
Duly assisted by the police personnel and the vehicles provided by the Regional Transport Office, the officials started door-to-door knocking. The villagers were already indoors, and many had slept.
As the message of a possible deluge of the banks with huge increased flow of up to one lakh cusecs received, the officials did not waste time. “In some places, people were quick to get into the vehicles with whatever they could carry. In some places, they were hesitant as they were already fast asleep. Our officials and men had to plead them to cooperate as in another one to two hours, the entire communication network could crash,” the Tahsildar recalled.
The officials evacuated some 2,400 persons and took them to far-off elevated places. Some of them were taken to Tirunelveli district and given safe accommodation. The timely alerts given by the officials also helped those in low-lying areas of the villages to move to higher altitude quickly and stay there for the next two days.
Water released from the dams and the rainwater from Tirunelveli district converged and over one lakh cusecs flowed in the river. Heavy rain pounded Srivaikuntam Taluk from the night and the taluk reported an unprecedented 618 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending 6 a.m. on Monday.
“A total of 36 irrigation tanks breached with high flow of water from all sides. Even the high banks of Tamirabharani breached on both sides near the Taluk office,” he noted.
The officials were quick to rescue some 250 passengers from the Srivaikuntam railway station after the Chennai-bound Chendur Express got stranded amidst flood water. Even stranded Ayyappa devotees were rescued from the road. “Even as we were moving the rescued passengers to a relief shelter, the flood water level increased and we had to give up further rescue,” the Tahsildar said.
The rescue operations had to end at 2.30 a.m. as all communication lines got snapped and flow of water on the road and villages went beyond managing. The worst-affected places in the Taluk were Agaram, Nanalkadu, Murappanadu, Muthalankurichi and Karungulam. “In some spots, the river, fields, road all looked the same with water everywhere,” he said.
Despite all the water flowing beyond the danger mark, only two lives were lost in the taluk, the Tahsildar said.
