CHENNAI: Chennai on Wednesday turned a virtual island and several coastal areas of Tamil Nadu were marooned by flood waters after unprecedented rains in 100 years pounded the city, its suburbs and neighbouring districts destroying crucial road and rail links, shutting the airport and rendering thousands homeless.
Chennai, which received 49 cm of rain and Chembarambakkam, where the reservoir surplussed about 25,000 cusecs of water into Adyar river, received 47 cm of rains in the last 24 hours that flooded the city and the suburbs, uprooting people from their homes.
Flood waters reached upto even the second floor of the Housing Board colonies on the banks of Adyar river as people reached roof tops looking for rescue and relief in several parts of the city and suburbs.
The death toll in the rains that have lashed the city and other parts of The National Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha reviewed the situation and assured the state of all support from the centre.
All modes of transport--air, road and rail services-- remained suspended due to the unprecedented deluge, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at the airport and various rail terminals. Suburban rail services also remained suspended.
Adding to the worry of the citizens and administration, the weatherman has forecast rainfall over the next three days with the next 48 being very critical under the influence of a trough of low pressure and upper air circulation over the southwest Bay of Bengal and Sri Lankan coast.
Thereafter, the state will see an anti-cyclone activity which will be associated with “heavy rains” at some places.
“The phenomenon will continue for the next seven days, but the next 48 hours are very crucial. Neighbouring states will also see rainfall activity,” L S Rathore, Director General of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) told reporters in Delhi.
A steady drizzle, which was occasionally heavy, brought some respite from Tuesday's torrential downpour, but vast swathes in the city and the suburbs and neighbouring districts of Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore and Villupuram reeled under the impact of the surplus waters from reservoirs that left Adyar and Cooum rivers in spate and Buckingham Canal breached.
Massive rescue and rehabilitation efforts have been undertaken by army, navy and air force along with personnel of the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF), police and fire service in the worst-affected areas of Tambaram, Mudichur, Velachery and Madipakkam in the suburbs that come under Kanchipuram distict and in Kotturpuram, Jaffarkhanpet, Saidapet, Guindy and Mambalam and other western parts of the city.
Normal life in the city and suburbs were completely disrupted by lack of public transport, power and essential supplies as movement of vehicles were largely curtailed because flood waters even in hitherto-safe areas of the city.
Mobile telephony largely remained crippled because of failure of telephone towers and the landline phones in several areas went still because of the flood in the of the areas.
The Maraimalai Adigal bridge connecting on the arterial Anna Salai (Mount Road) and the Kotturpuram bridge were closed for transport following Adyar water rising upto the road level.
Teams of army, navy, coast guard and NDRF have been deployed in the worst-affected areas of Tambaram, the southern gateway to the city, Mudichur and Oorapakkam.
Police and Fire service personnel were also involved in rescue operations. The Coast Guard has deployed its boats in some areas in the city that has witnessed unprecedented rains in a short period of time in recent memory.
------
Extremely heavy rainfall has been occurring for sometime and today (Wednesday) Tamil Nadu has witnessed 35 cm of rainfall that has created havoc
- Laxman Singh Rathore, DG MeT Department
-----
Rains will
batter TN
for a week
more: IMD
NEW DELHI: Rains will continue to batter Tamil Nadu for the next seven days and the next 48 hours are “very crucial”, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said.
IMD Director General Laxman Singh Rathore attributed the heavy rains to a “trough of low” over Southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka coast which will continue to bring rains over the next three days. Thereafter, the state will see an anti-cyclone activity which will be associated with “heavy rains” at some places.
“The phenomenon will continue for the next seven days, but the next 48 hours are very crucial. Neighbouring states will also see rainfall activity,” Rathore said.
He said the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi chaired a high-level meeting with the “stake holders”, including officials of National Disaster Management Authority, which was attended by Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary through a video conference. The IMD also briefed about the weather forecast.
A warning has also been issued for coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh (especially Nellore and Chittoor), interior Tamil Nadu and Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh.
-------
PM TAKES STOCK OF
FLOOD SITUATION
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took stock of the flood situation in Tamil Nadu and discussed it with his cabinet colleagues, including the Home and Finance Ministers.
“I want to inform the House that today morning the Prime Minister met the Home Minister, Finance Minister and myself and discussed the flood conditions in Tamil Nadu. We exchanged information on the situation,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said in the Lok Sabha.
Modi on Tuesday spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and assured her all possible support and cooperation from the Centre, he said.
Naidu further said that Home Minister Rajnath Singh would chair a high-level meeting to ensure relief to the people of Tamil Nadu.
“The Home Minister is going to hold a high-level meeting... They are trying to coordinate with various agencies on relief operations. 400 passengers are stranded... NDRF team is there,” Naidu said.
------
Flights hit,
stranded
passengers
evacuated
As many as 3,500 people, including 1,500 passengers, were stranded on Wednesday morning at the Chennai international airport, which has been closed for operations till Thursday morning following flooding of the runway.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) said all the stranded passengers are being moved out of the airport, but did not reveal the exact number of those evacuated so far.
A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued by AAI, which manages the airport, to all air operators with regard to suspension of flight operations till 6 am tomorrow. This notice is a communication that informs pilots about potential risks to flight safety.
-------
B-Town prays for flood victims
MUMBAI: Bollywood celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar are praying for the safety of people in Chennai, which is affected by non-stop torrential rains.
Amitabh took to Twitter to praise the relief work in the state.
“Chennai deluged.. !! Prayers for safety and calm soon...
So heartwarming to see immense voluntary help coming by!!,” he wrote.
Saluting the relief workers, actress-producer Dia Mirza tweeted, “Salute all the people who are helping #Chennai overcome the floods. This humanity needs to shine in development plans.” Kapoor posted a series of Chennai helpline numbers on his micro-blogging site.
“Chennai Helpline numbers. Please circulate thanks!,” he captioned it.
Actress Raveena Tandon feels such calamities should be a wake up call for metro cities.
“#chennafloods tragedy should be a wake up call for all our cities. Time we left open spaces, lakes and rivers to breathe.” Others celebs like Abhishek Bachchan, Varun Dhawan and Farhan are sending their prayers to the victims.
“Thoughts and prayers with the people more severely affected. #ChennaiFloods,” Abhishek posted.
“My heart goes out to all the victims of the #ChennaiFloods. Praying for them and their families,” wrote Varun.
Farhan tweeted, “Thoughts are with all those affected by the deluge in Chennai.” Actress Parineeti Chopra urged people to help the needy.
“Mumbai went through the same thing a few years ago. Its time to help someone else. Please help Chennai!” Jackky Bhagnani said, “#ChennaiFloods Stay Strong Chennai.
Prayers are with you and a special thank you to those on Social Media who've been helping in their own way.” Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and neighbouring Puducherry, are under the influence of heavy rains, which resulted in the disruption of flight and train movement and left several areas inundated.
