Chennai floods: Residents stranded atop roofs in suburbs

A factory worker, fearing that he might get washed away, climbed on to the roof of the factory and then started shouting for help as he was not able to come down without help.

Even though the fire services were immediately called, no help had arrived for the person till late evening.

When he heard the screams, a neighbour R. Nandakumar looked outside of his balcony from the second floor of his apartment and saw the stranded man. He was not able to access the worker as the ground floor of his apartment had also been flooded and he was not even able to take his car out, therefore called the fire department. “As soon as we called, they did respond but only one firefighter came to check on the situation and told us that the fire department would take at least three hours to respond as it had been held up in other areas. It has been more than three hours and we haven’t heard from them. Our calls are not going through,” said Nandakumar.

Fire services later informed the residents they would send three boats to rescue but the residents continue to await help. Areas in Tambaram such as Chitlapakkam, Mudichur, CTO Colony, Old Tambaram, Ulahanagaram, and Madipakkam were also completely flooded.