17 die in wall collapse as rain batters Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI:At least 17 people, including 10 women and two children, were killed in their sleep when a portion of a 15-feet high private compound wall fell amid incessant rains on Monday and buried a row of adjoining tiled-roof houses at Nadur in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district, officials said.
The heavy rains that have lashed Tamil Nadu triggered the wall collapse in Nadur a day after Chennai’s Regional Meteorological Centre on Sunday predicted more showers over the next two days and issued a red alert for Tamil Nadu’s six districts. Rainrelated incidents claimed five lives on Saturday in the state.
The officials said that rescuers have retrieved the bodies from the debris in Nadur with the assistance of the local residents and police.
Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the situation and review the relief and rescue operations. Palaniswami also announced a compensation of ~4 lakh each for the families of the 17 from the State Disaster Relief Fund.
Apart from the 17 deaths in Naduvur, the rains have climed eight more lives in the last three days since November 29, an official release said.
The release further said that 58 cattle have perished, while 1,305 hutments and 465 tiled houses were damaged for which necessary compensation would be given.
Coimbatore district collector, K Rajamani, told reporters that the villagers had complained about the cracks in the compound wall built around a house of one S Sivasumbramanian, who has a textile show room in Mettupalayam town.
“If found illegal, the wall would be demolished,” he said.
Sivasumbramanian’s house is situated above Dalit houses,
which are contiguous to the wall.
Rajamani said that the district administration will review the villagers’ suggestions to prevent such incidents. He added that they will send a detailed report to the state government for a follow-up and for providing relief measures.
Rajamani, who visited the scene of the wall collapse along with police superintendent Sujit Kumar, promised facilities at the local government hospital would be upgraded to ensure locals do not need to travel to the district headquarters for treatment.
Earlier, heavy rains left several sub-urban areas of Chennai waterlogged over the weekend and forced authorities to order closure of schools and colleges on Monday.
A flood alert was issued in villagers on the banks of the Sankarabarani river in Puducherry on Sunday. The alert followed Tamil Nadu government’s move to release water from Veedur Dam in Villupuram district amid heavy rainfall.
“The North-East monsoon is active and Tamil Nadu has received 11% more than the average rainfall. Rains likely to continue due to the presence of a trough opver the bay and a low pressure are over the South West Arabian sea. It is likely to turn into a depression in the next 24 hours, brining more rains,” S Balachandran, director, MET office, said.
A FLOOD ALERT WAS ISSUED IN VILLAGERS ON THE BANKS OF THE SANKARABARANI RIVER IN PUDUCHERRY ON SUNDAY