Government ready to handle monsoon, says Minister

As the Regional Meteorological Centre has predicted rain for the next five days, the administration is ready with all steps being in place to handle floods, Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar told reporters here on Thursday. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea, the minister added.

In October, only five districts – Theni, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram –recorded excess rainfall, whereas the entire State received a deficit rainfall of 13 per cent, said the Minister, adding that more than 15 districts, including Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, were among those recording deficit rainfall.

In Chennai, the Corporation has constructed 424 km of new stormwater drains and a dedicated TNSmart app is now available for the government officials to speed up coordination during floods, the Minister said.

During the review meeting earlier in the day, Udhayakumar instructed the Revenue department and the State Disaster Management Authority to ensure that there were no encroachments along the waterways. Public Works department was also instructed to keep an eye on the inflow of stormwater into all major and minor dams in western Tamil Nadu. He also instructed the officials to ensure that the flood mitigation measures were executed as per plans, including the deployment of inter-departmental zonal teams round-the-clock.