Hour of heavy rain exposes faulty drains of Trichy city

Trichy: Trichy city recorded an average rainfall of 30.7mm in the core areas in the past 24 hours as of Thursday morning. Though the rainfall level was not alarming, a heavy spell that lashed in less than hour caused waterlogging in several areas, exposing the bad conditions of stormwater drains abutting the arterial roads in the city.
According to the India meteorological department (IMD), Cantonment, Kallukuzhi, and Central bus stand areas recorded 41.4mm of rainfall.The old city zones including Palakkarai, Thennur, and Chathiram bus stand recorded 44mm of rainfall. Ponmalai area recorded 6.8mm of rainfall. Though the amount of rainfall is normal, the city’s prominent roads including Bharathidasan Road, Major Saravanan Road, interior residential streets in Srirangam, Sivaprakasam Road, Thennur High Road, Salai Road, and Thillai Nagar Main Road were waterlogged.

The major reason for the inundations was badly maintained stormwater drain infrastructure amid the ongoing underground drainage works. The surplus rainwater instead of flowing into canals and drains such as the Uyyakondan canal are flowing over the roads due to faulty stormwater drains. “A portion of roads was cut off for vehicles as rainwater was gushing towards the low-lying areas, leading to traffic bottlenecks amid rain,” S Venkatesan, a resident of Officers Colony said.
With monsoon only a couple of months away, residents urged the local body to focus on roads specifically in the Cantonment, Thennur, and Srirangam areas.
A corporation official said, “We have drafted proposals to repair the stormwater drains. Works will commence soon.”