Rain lashed many parts of Vellore and neighbouring towns of Ambur, Arani, Arcot, Wallajah, Arakkonam, Cheyyar and Gudiyatham on Friday.
Low-lying areas like Sampath Nagar and Kansalpet in Vellore were inundated with knee-deep water disrupting daily lives of residents in these areas. Power was shut down to prune overgrown trees and fallen branches on key stretches in the district.
Clogged stormwater drains were cleaned to ensure free flow of rainwater from the streets.
“Drains are being desilted to prevent waterlogging. On the other hand, adequate police personnel have been deployed at key spots to prevent crowd for New Year celebrations as part of COVID-19 restrictions,” said Collector P. Kumaraval Pandian.
The downpour that began on Thursday night continued on Friday with several areas, especially those along the Bengaluru Highway (NH 48), like Sathuvachari, Rangapuram, Kagithapattarai, CMC, facing severe waterlogging. Areas like Gudiyatham (12mm), Katpadi (14 mm) and Vellore's Old Town (22 mm) received heavy rain with the district recording an average rainfall of 14 mm.
Ranipet received the highest rainfall of 28.57 mm since Thursday night, followed by Tiruvannamalai district with 15.13 mm. Among major towns, Arakkonam in Ranipet district got the highest rainfall of 47.80 mm, followed by Cheyyar (Tiruvannamalai) with 43 mm rainfall as of 8.30 a.m. on Friday.
Wallajah, Arcot, Kaveripakkam in Ranipet, Arani and Chetpet in Tiruvannamalai, Gudiyatham and Katpadi in Vellore and Ambur in Tirupattur received good rainfall since Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the police in these districts made elaborate arrangements to handle traffic and prevent crowd during New Year celebrations, as places of worship are expected to attract thousands of people. Around 3,000 police personnel were deployed in these districts to prevent crowding in public places for new year celebrations.
In order to ensure smooth flow of vehicles, the police have made several traffic arrangements. Additional check-posts have been erected to check drunken driving, over-speeding vehicles and more than two people travelling in two-wheelers.
Superintendent of Police S. Rajesh Kannan, reviewed the security arrangements at key spots like Green Circle, Fort complex and Bengaluru Highway (NH 48) in the district as part of COVID-19 protocol
On Friday, Deepa Satyan, SP (Ranipet) inspected additional check-posts on arterial roads such as the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway, Kaveripakkam-Arakkonam Road, Ocheri-Arakkonam Road, Walajapet-Chittoor Road.
