Rain kills 10 in TN

An over 200-years old architecturally iconic building housing the General Post Office (GPO) in the old Esplanade area of Chennai suffered a partial roof-collapse on Saturday due to the torrential rain.

As the rain-related deaths across the state crossed ten, fire service sources said on Saturday evening that part of the second floor roof of the historic GPO building on ‘Rajaji Salai’ here caved in due to dampness, caused by heavy downpour  over the last few days.

However, there were no casualties sources said, adding, the building had been cordoned off.
In Chennai the dug up trenches along vast stretches, as part of the National Urban Renewal Mission projects to expand the city’s sewerage and draining canal capacity has added to the commuters’ woes. A tragic fallout of it all was the death of a 24-year-old school teacher Sarala. While returning from her class in T Nagar area on Saturday night she fell into one such overflowing ditch in darkness and drowned.

Her body was found floating in the area on Saturday morning and retrieved by the fire fighting personnel. Police sources said Cuddalore district alone accounting for six deaths.