Heavy rains batter Tamil Nadu, Chennai worst-hit

Incessant rains that began Wednesday afternoon pounded several parts of the state, especially capital Chennai, and its neighbouring districts, for nearly 16 hours under the influence of a depression that crossed the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts on Thursday evening.

Heavy rains subsided on Thursday morning in most areas but returned within a few hours to fade away only in the evening. The MeT department withdrew the Red Alert issued to the state after the depression began to cross the Tamil Nadu coast near Chennai.

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As many as 14 persons have lost their lives in the state due to rains in the past one week, while 157 cattle died and over 1,072 huts were damaged on Thursday, Revenue Minister K K S S R Ramachandran said, adding that 10,000 persons have been lodged at relief centres in the state.

The extremely heavy rainfall in Chennai, whose suburb Tambaram recorded 23 cm of rainfall in 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Thursday, led to flooding and waterlogging in several areas of the city, where power supply was suspended for several hours in most parts as a precautionary measure.

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This is the second time in less than a week that the city has experienced extremely heavy rainfall after it received 20 cm of rainfall on November 6. The rains battered the city yet again forcing the closure of over a dozen subways and several roads for traffic on Thursday – massive efforts were being taken to drain water out of the subways and roads using giant motor pumps. At 9 pm, water was drained out from 10 of the 13 subways that were inundated.

The rains also affected flight and train operations in the city. While the arrival of flights into the Chennai Airport was suspended for nearly five hours leading to diverting of and cancellation of 14 and 22 incoming domestic flights and 28 departure domestic flights. Train services between Chennai and Tiruvallur were suspended due to waterlogging on tracks.

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Agriculture Minister M R K Panneerselvam said paddy cultivated in over 1.45 lakh hectares of land has been submerged, even as Chief Minister M K Stalin deputed a six-member ministerial team led by Cooperatives Minister I Periyasamy to visit the Cauvery Delta region and submit a report on the extent of the damage.

Hospitals in K K Nagar, Chromepet, and Tambaram were flooded prompting the shifting of patients to nearby facilities while several localities were marooned. Incessant rains hampered the relief measures in some places, while people living in low-lying areas in Velachery were rescued through fibre boats.

Several localities like Ambattur, Velachery, Valasaravakkam, and Kolathur were inundated causing severe inconvenience to residents. Seven teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) fanned out across the city and neighbouring Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts evacuating those stranded in floods.

Ramachandran said waterlogging was reported from 523 locations in Chennai on Thursday of which 46 were cleared by 6 pm, while 230 uprooted trees were removed. He also said over 70,000 people were benefitted through medical camps run by the GCC.

The GCC said it distributed 6.64 lakh food packets to rain-affected people during breakfast and lunch on Thursday. However, several people took to Twitter to complain about the lack of food at a few places where waterlogging was heavy.

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