WRD’s tip to flood-hit residents near Porur lake: Lift your houses

CHENNAI: In an incredulous advice that borders on being ridiculous, the Water Resources Department asked the residents near Porur lake who are hit by floods to raise the height of their houses to prevent inundation.

The suggestion came in response to a complaint raised by the residents of Iyyapanthangal and Kolathuvancheri. The reply from the WRD executive engineer said there was no use in deepening the lake, as the waterbody has not reached its full capacity. Instead, the residents may raise the height of their houses, the official helpfully added, seemingly unmindful of the fact that such an effort is adopted only as the last resort because it is extremely expensive.

The official added that the local body should construct properly interlinked storm water drains.

“These areas are located on the bund of the lake, and even when Porur lake reaches full capacity, there will be water stagnation in residential areas," the official said.

Several areas in Iyyapanthangal were inundated during the recent rains after the water level in the lake went up. The heavy rains also led to water-logging in Maduram Nagar, Dhanalakshmi Nagar, Abirami Nagar and Balaji Nagar when the lake level rose.

With their homes and roads outside flooded, the residents raised a complaint to the department to address the issue and prevent flooding during monsoon. They urged the department to deepen Porur lake to prevent inundation in nearby residential areas.

"Even though the panchayat has constructed storm water drains in a few areas, either they are not interlinked or desilted ahead of the monsoon season every year,” said T Murali, a resident of Iyyapanthangal.

He blamed the lack of proper maintenance of storm water drains for the inundation of residential areas in the neighbourhood. Raising these complaints, the residents had urged the authorities to ensure that the drains are desilted and linked to the waterbodies to prevent flooding.