Rain cools Trichy, but mosquito menace looms

Trichy: There was a respite from the sweltering heat prevailing for the past few days in Trichy, as rainfall that began on Monday evening lashed various parts of the city till the early hours of Tuesday with Trichy airport recording 12cm rainfall and Trichy junction 9cm.

While residents breathed a sigh of relief, concerns loom large over the proliferation of mosquito menace after the heavy spells. Residents have sought an intensive drive to keep the vector-borne diseases at bay, especially after a suspected dengue death of an infant in July.

“We are assigning workforce to clear the potential breeding objects from terrace and backyards of the households. One ward is focussed every day, people must cover their freshwater sources,” a sanitary official said. As there were complaints of slackness in fogging measures, corporation said that it is carried out only after dengue cases are reported. However, residents said that periodical fogging and spraying larvicide is necessary without waiting for cases to be reported.

Independent weather blogger N Selvakumar said the downpour was convectional rainfall-induced southwest monsoon. India meteorological department (IMD) has predicted thunderstorms to continue in the central districts till Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the sudden downpour damaged roads in remote localities such as RS Puram in KK Nagar