Coimbatore flooding left several hundred residents marooned in knee-deep, contaminated water after intense rainfall overwhelmed low-lying neighbourhoods near Selvachinthamani Lake, with water entering homes and disrupting travel, work and college attendance.
The worst-affected areas were Ashok Nagar and Prabhu Nagar, along residential stretches abutting the lake on Sundakkamuthur Road. Residents reported that floodwater entered ground-floor houses, submerging household appliances, groceries and parked vehicles. Snakes, dead rodents and insects were also reported inside some homes.
The rain began on Sunday afternoon and continued into the early hours of Monday. District officials said Coimbatore received more than 80mm of rainfall in a short period of three hours on Sunday. The sudden runoff caused the primary outlet channel connecting Selvachinthamani Lake with Ukkadam Periyakulam to overflow, according to district collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar.
Giriyappanavar said the water stagnation was caused by an unprecedented volume of storm runoff rather than a structural blockage in the channel. He said the Coimbatore Corporation had been asked to prepare a comprehensive engineering plan to widen the connecting conduit and increase its carrying capacity as a permanent solution.
Minister for Backward Classes Welfare V Sampath Kumar inspected the affected localities on Monday along with Coimbatore mayor R Ranganayaki, the district collector and corporation commissioner Katta Ravi Teja. The minister distributed essential relief supplies and food packets to stranded residents and directed field workers to accelerate dewatering operations.
The corporation deployed about 100 sanitary workers and 15 high-capacity sewage suction tankers to remove water from the streets and transfer it to disposal points. In Prabhu Nagar, floodwater entered several houses and submerged at least eight two-wheelers parked in residential driveways.
Residents said the flooding was a recurring problem rather than an isolated disruption. Nagarani, a resident of Ashok Nagar, said water entered her house at about 2am on Monday, forcing her family to carry young children upstairs. She said snakes and insects entered the house and that electrical appliances, including a washing machine, motor pumps and refrigerator, were damaged. She also said the family had spent more than Rs 4 lakh replacing water-damaged household items over the previous year.
Another resident, T S Vishnu Kumar, said water entered his compound on Sunday night and reached the threshold of his house. Corporation workers dumped gravel to prevent it from entering the living room, but he was unable to return to Bengaluru after his weekend stay in Coimbatore.
The flooding also affected daily mobility. Workers were unable to leave some neighbourhoods, while college students and other residents were prevented from travelling. The disruption was particularly severe on streets where water entered homes and remained stagnant after the rainfall.
Data released by the district disaster management authority showed that Coimbatore recorded cumulative rainfall of 1,232mm across various recording stations, with an average of 53.57mm, between 7.30am on October 25 and 7.30am on October 26. Madukkarai taluk recorded the highest precipitation at 130mm, followed by Varappatti in Sulur at 128mm and Podanur at 118mm.
Civic teams were continuing dewatering and relief operations on Monday, while the corporation’s proposed engineering plan to expand the lake outlet is expected to address the channel’s capacity as part of the authorities’ longer-term response.
