Mettur, 15 October, 2012 — Heavy rains lashed Mettur last night causing a compound wall at Chemplast’s Plant II to collapse. The debris that blocked a natural drainage stream flowing through the company’s premises sent the floodwaters rushing into the Jeeva Nagar residential area. Nearly 100 people had to be evacuated after the floodwaters entered their homes, damaging furniture and electronic equipment. Irate residents took to the streets last night to block the Salem-Mettur Highway. However, Veerakalpudur Panchayat President and the police calmed them down and promised a discussion with the company in the morning. At the time of writing, pollce officials along with the Revenue Divisional Officer and elected Panchayat officials were at the company gates along with residents in an attempt to broker an agreement between the company and the affected residents.
More details are awaited, and will be published in subsequent posts.