Palar flood submerges causeways cuts access to many parts

VELLORE: Continuous rain resulted in Mordana dam overflowing into Kaundanya River submerging the ground level causeway in Gudiyattam town. It lead to a 3-hour traffic bottleneck in the town.

The Pillur check dam on TN – AP border near Vaniyambadi discharged 1,400 cusecs into Palar. With already the ground level causeway between Pachakuppam being submerged some days ago, locals were forced to take a circuitous detour to reach Ambur, a similar facility which connects Madanur in Tirupattur district with Gudiyattam in Vellore district at Ulli is likely to meet the same fate.

Local resident G Srikant said, “Though officials are continuously dumping sand to raise the level of the temporary causeway they constructed with cement pipes after the causeway was washed away in the rain some months ago, increased sand will not help if the force of water increases and washes away the causeway.”

However, the surplus discharge from Mordana dam increased the flow in Kanundaya river. “Hence all traffic had to use Kamaraj bridge resulting in vehicular congestion which lasted almost three hours,” said Gokula Krishnan a resident.

Sources said that top district officials were expected to inspect the site and suggest an alternative as heavy traffic could impair Kamaraj bridge.