Three persons were washed away in flash floods in Hosur following heavy rains, neighbourhoods were inundated and a lake breached in this town, which saw the heaviest rainfall in the past 24 hours in Tamil Nadu even as a top official said arrangements are in place to shift people living in low lying areas here if the rains continued.
A mother and daughter, aged 41 and 13 and a 20-year-old man were washed away by flash floods when they tried to cross a road in SM Nagar in separate incidents around 9 PM last night.
"The flash flood was due to discharge from a stormwater drain which carried excessive rain water from Karnoor lake. Had they waited for some time the water would have receded," Hosur Sub-Collector, K Senthilraj told PTI.
The heavy rains that began last evening lasted for several hours and led to flash floods.
The city has been experiencing showers, especially during evening hours for about a week. During the 24 hour period between 8.30 AM yesterday and 8.30 am today, Hosur recorded 14 cms of rain, the highest in Tamil Nadu for the duration, the Regional Meteorological Department said.
Chandrambigai lake in the town began overflowing since late on Wednesday night and inundated neighbourhoods, including KCP Nagar and Manjunathanagar.
"We have deployed 11 JCBs (earthmovers and backhoe loaders) to help flow of water outside the neighbourhoods, besides steps to clean up all clogged stormwater drains," Senthilraj said to a question on steps to tackle inundation.
Chinna Elathagiri lake in the town breached this morning.
Senthilraj said over 200 sandbags were used to plug the breach and that he had inspected the site. Constant vigil was being maintained, he said.
On steps to tackle the situation in the event of further rains, he said vulnerable locations have been identified and that if needed, people in low lying areas would be housed in five marriage halls and 10 schools.