Mandous effect: Crops under water, trees uprooted in Ranipet, Vellore

RANIPET/VELLORE: Uprooted trees, submerged crops, damaged houses and electric poles and damaged banana plantations were the trail left by Cyclone Mandous on Saturday. However, there was no loss of human or animal life.

A continued drizzle accompanied by chill weather resulted in officials having their work cut out when the day started.

Nearly 200 acres of paddy were submerged in Siruvalayam village in Nemili taluk, water from inundated houses in Uthirampattu near Ocheri on the Chennai National Highway was cleared with the use of earthmovers.

At Arikalambadi village, a tamarind tree fell on a house and damaged its roof, officials said.

Tree falls were also reported from HB flats in Wallajahpet, while three EB poles fell at Sambasivapuram near Visharam. Nearly 400 plantain trees were damaged by the cyclone, officials added.

At Thappur near Sholingur, a tamarind tree fell on the highway and was later removed. The rain also resulted in increased water storage in irrigation tanks.

Of the 369 tanks in Ranipet, 178 were full, 5 had 75 per cent water while another 50 had 50 per cent and another 100 tanks had 25 per cent water. Of the total 8.52 TMC storage, the level stood at 6.63 TMC on Saturday officials said.

In Vellore district, one passenger suffered minor injuries when the TNSTC bus he was travelling hit an uprooted tree, which fell on the Vellore - Tiruvannamalai Road near at private college at Kaniyambadi.

Collector Kumaravel Pandian visited water-logged areas in the Mango Mandi and oversaw removal of stagnant water.