Illogical storm drain design behind flood

Chennai: The city’s scars post-December 1 deluge have started to heal but not for residents of Radhakrishnan Nagar at Adyar where flawed stormwater drains have ensured the locality stays waterlogged.

The fault lines were discovered when resident protests a few days back brought the men and machinery of Chennai corporation to the locality. Residents recounted how local body workers checked each and every man hole of the storm drain on RK Nagar Main Road as they could not ascertain the reason behind flooding.

“What they discovered shocked them even more,” said P. Geeta, a resident. The stormwater drain on Mahatma Gandhi Road, into which the line from RK Nagar emptied its excess, had blocked the latter off. Meaning, the rainwater had nowhere else to go but build up levels as it would in a reservoir. “It is not common sense to block the path of a drain but the corporation engineers did that,” exclaimed K. Babu another resident.

Realising their folly, an excavator was brought in urgently and the blocking wall of the MG Road drain was torn down. Within a few hours, the nearly one-and-a-half feet water stagnating in the entire locality went down.

When asked to comment on the episode, a Zone-13 corporation official said the MG Road project was executed by the “headquarters”. “The project was done by the stormwater drain department in Ripon Buildings. So, any blame should fall on the executive engineer and the contractor concerned,” said the official.

But that is not all about RK Nagar. In fact, the Dr RK Nagar Main Road, a nearly one km stretch linking Kalakshetra Road and MG Road, is also the site of the corporation’s Rs 2 crore ‘model’ footpath project - a continuous footpath to ensure pedestrian safety and walking comfort. Nearly 60 per cent of the work was completed when rain arrived.

When DC visited the spot, the paver stones used for the project had come off at  many locations and the storm drains, whose height was adjusted evenly, had sunk in several places. In one particular location, near a table top speed breaker where the main road meets Malavia Avenue, corporation workers have completely taken apart the newly laid footpath, so that storm water would flow through.

All these measures have still proved not enough as even on Friday, the local body had stationed a giant pump to try and unclog stagnant rainwater from the drains. However, the situation is set to become only worse as the area’s sewage pipeline is at its breaking point.

With sewage threatening to burst over, residents expressed helplessness as, despite numerous attempts, they have not been able to reach metro water officials. “The local metro water official’s phone number is unreachable. We only want the officials to address the problem before it takes a turn for the worse,” Geeta said. Metro water officials could not be reached for comment.

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