Rain stopped three days ago; but residents of few places still battling stagnant rainwater mixed with sewage

Even though the rain stopped completely three days ago, some parts of this port town are still battling the stagnant rainwater mixed with sewage overflowing from the clogged underground drainage system.

After the cyclone-induced weather system brought decent rainfall to this coastal town over the past several days, the rain stopped completely on Saturday last. The Corporation is now busy pumping out the stagnant rainwater with 30-odd pumps kept at various affected places of Thoothukudi.

Even though this exercise is being repeated like a ritual for the past several years during the northeast monsoon, few places like Kamaraj Nagar and Shankar Colony, both near Thoothukudi Medical College, are still battling the stagnant rainwater.

The 250-meter-long road leading to Thoothkudi Medical College from Third Mile Main Road via Kamaraj Nagar has been under rainwater for the past several days. “The situation is unbearable after sewage overflowing from the blocked underground drainage system mixed with the already stagnant rainwater. We’ve to walk through this pool of sewage which is nauseating. The Corporation officials should take immediate steps to alleviate this crisis,” said the residents of Kamaraj Nagar.

The situation inside the Thoothukudi Medical College campus is still worse as knee-deep water is stagnating inside the campus.

“The medicos and our faculty members, who had sent several messages to the Corporation through social media platforms seeking immediate action, are wading through this pond for the past one week,” said a senior professor of TKMCH, who prescribes that the pumping out of the sewage stagnating along the Kamaraj Nagar road alone would provide relief to them.

Corporation officials said the blocks in the underground drainage system would be removed tomorrow which would solve the crisis instantly.