Rain lashes Salem, Erode districts affecting normalcy

SALEM: As Gaja cyclone made landfall on Thursday night, heavy rain lashed Salem and Erode districts on Friday affecting normalcy. Salem district has received 184mm of rain since Friday morning, according to the district meteorological department.
Many low-lying areas in Salem city were inundated and major roads, including Four Roads, Five Roads, Saradha College Road, Kitchipalayam, Sanyasikundu, Suramangalam and Gandhi Road were stagnated with rainwater.Due to this, vehicular traffic has halted until 7pm in many parts of the city.
“Many roads in the city are choked with rainwater and traffic movement has been halted in and around the city since Friday morning,” said K Venkatraman, a local resident.
In some places, drainage channels overflowed after rainwater mixed with sewage, causing inconvenience to residents. At Kitchipalayam, Ammapet and Shevapet, water surrounded houses forcing people to move to other places.
“Thammampatty has received maximum rainfall of 36.2mm in the district, while Attur received 26.4mm, Veeraganur 25mm, and Gangavalli 20mm,” a Met department official said.
Erode district has received 57mm on Friday against the average of 3.23mm. “Erode town and Perundurai have both received 7mm, while Kodumudi recorded rainfall of 19mm, which is highest in the district,” said an official.
Earlier, the collectors of both the districts had declared holiday for all the government and private schools on Friday. They said officials were monitoring the situation, and would reach to any area if situation turned bad.