As heavy rain batters TN, CM says its impact has been reduced

Chennai:  As heavy rain battered Tamil Nadu, forcing the authorities to declare a holiday for schools in several districts on Saturday, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the impact of the rain was prevented due to the timely mitigation work initiated by the state government.

Mettupalayam in Coimbatore recorded a maximum of 13 cm rainfall, followed by Kamuthi, Sivagiri, and Alandur: 12 cm each, while Puzhal recorded 11 cm, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre, here. As rain lashed the state, the administration in Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Dindigul, and Theni districts announced a holiday for schools today. "The apprehension of a deluge in Chennai during the monsoon is now passe because of the steps taken by the DMK government," Stalin said in a post on the social media platform "X".

The impact of the heavy rain has been prevented from affecting people by taking up work such as desilting and establishing stormwater drains for a distance of 876 km. With the RMC warning of heavy rains in the next few days, the state ministers, representatives of local bodies besides civic officials and staff have been told to be actively on the ground to serve the people, he said in the post, tagging state Ministers: K N Nehru (Municipal Administration), P K Sekar Babu (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department) and Ma Subramanian (Health), Corporation Mayor R Priya and Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Dr j Radhakrishnan.

"Let's strengthen the faith in the Dravidian model government which is around to prevent the people from suffering even the slightest calamity," the chief minister said, reposting a message from the Greater Chennai Corporation which said many areas, including, subways remained free from water stagnation with the exception of Alandur and Velachery due to proactive stormwater drain initiatives and flood preparedness efforts directed by the chief minister. The chief minister continued to oversee and closely monitor these essential works.

"The works undertaken in the past two and half years included the laying of new stormwater drains for a length of 876 km to increase the network of existing drains and also in certain areas replacing low capacity very old non-functional stormwater drains, coupled with regular desilting of drains and channels," the civic body said in its post on "X"