Heavy rains continue to lash Pondy

Puducherry, Nov 26: Incessant heavy rain continued to lash Puducherry and its suburbs for the fifth sucessive day, disrupting normal life in the Union Territory.

With the rain continuing without any let up, low lying areas were inundated and thousands of people were evacuated and sheltered in Kalyanamandapams (marraige halls) and schools and they were being fed.

The draining of excess water was affected as the sea remained very rough.

People from Vambakeerappalayam and nearby areas were evacuated and accomodated in the Indira Gandhi sports complex following the intrusion of sea water through the Ouppanaar drainage.

All efforts made by the Revenue department to pump out water from residential areas went in vain as the rains continued. Crops in several hectares of land were damaged as the rain water submerged the fields for the last few days.

All schools in Puducherry remained closed today also.

Puducherry received 183.5 mm rainfall for the 24 hours ending at 0830 hrs today.

Chief Minister V Vaithilingam along with officials visited the rain affected areas today.

UNI