Rains drown 100-year record; air, bus and train services disrupted in Chennai

Chennai: The rains in Chennai virtually broke a 100-year-old record with one day’s rainfall covering a month’s average two columns of Army’s Garrison Infantry Battalion were pressed into service in Tambaram and Oorapakkam after the Tamil Nadu government sought military assistance.

The Met department hit the bull’s eye Tuesday as it rained, rained and rained some more with the city receiving more than enough water to sink it. Normal life was only an abstract term as students, office-goers and even normally stay-at-home.

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Chennaites were affected by the deluge that rocked the city, causing even more despair and inflicting water woes just as the city was recovering from the setbacks of an extremely rainy November.

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Those who were brave enough to take their vehicles out on the streets soon regretted their decision to override the Met office expert opinion as traffic chaos had gripped vehicular movement right across the city. Rain-water took over the arterial Anna Salai and the Jawaharlal Nehru 100 feet road, which connects Kathipara to Koyambedu, as moto-rists were spotted pulling their stalled motorcycles along.

Commuters were hit as the MTC suspended several of its services while, without power, residents were affected as they could not cook food or have easy access to essentials like drinking water etc.

Air traffic was severely affected with pilots and cabin crew unable to reach the airport in time for duty, Air passengers landing in Chennai had to wait an interminable time on the ground too as offloading of passengers was slow, particularly in the non-aerobridge flights.

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Smaller hospitals and clinics were inundated and special help was needed to get in-patients to safer areas above the water level. Daily commuters were hit as suburban rail services were running slow and way behind schedule and several services were curtailed due to waterlogging of tracks.

The Metro service was extended by an hour into the night on the 10-km stretch helping those living within reach but it was a logistical nightmare for anyone who had to go out on the streets for work or travel. With rainfall refusing to cease throughout the day, the fear of several lakes in and around the city breaching gripped residents living close to water bodies.

Even as the government was releasing excess from the city’s four main reservoirs, residents of Rajesh Nagar near the Narayanapuram Lake told this newspaper that Corporation officials were doing little to address their fears.

“It is the third time since the monsoon began that the Narayanapuram lake bund has breached. There is water everywhere and we are standing in ankle deep water inside our houses. Corporation officials are asking us to come to community centres to get our relief material. But during the last week, they did nothing to strengthen the bund despite promising to do so,” charged S. Shanti, a resident.

Maduravoyal CPI (M) MLA K Beem Rao told DC that the corporation had evacuated around 200 people from Vanagaram. Though the local body had kept two high power pumps in anticipation of heavy rainfall, Ramamurthy added that it is proving to be inadequate as water level kept rising.