Chennai: Tall claims of the state government that adequate measures have been taken to handle the northeast monsoon were exposed by the torrential downpour in Greater Chennai on Thursday late night which extended till Friday morning.
Central Chennai, which had always resisted water-logging, witnessed heavy inundation resulting in blocking of arterial roads connecting Triplicane, Chintadripet, Egmore and Foreshore Estate. Foreshore estate, which is less than 700 metres from the low tide line of the Marina, was marooned till noon as the locality recorded a 30 cm downpour within 12 hours.
According to regional meteorological department sources DGP office, Chennai recorded the maximum rainfall of 30 cm, an all-time high in the recent past. The ripple effect was visible along the Chennai coast where Marina became a centre of attraction with fresh water invading the service roads of the beach. By noon, people thronged the beach in large number with the kids enjoying the splash and taking selfies.
“Luckily the rain stopped on Friday. Otherwise, it would have been a rerun of 2015 floods”, said K. Nandakumar of Triplicane who brought his son and daughter to enjoy the waterlogging at Marina.
Cutting across party lines, revenue minister R.B. Udayakumar of the ruling AIADMK and DMK MLA of Saidapet M. Subramanian urged the public and their party men not to spread rumours on floods. While the minister maintained that the state was fully prepared to tackle the monsoon, the former mayor blamed that desilting works were not carried in full fledge.
“The rains have not yet started. This is just minimal rain that has to be welcomed by water-starved city like Chennai. But because of the waterlogging, public sentiment towards rains has changed and we have to understand the difference between waterlogging and flooding”, M. Subramanian told DC.
Minister R.B. Udayakumar, who conducted a review meeting with the commissioner of disaster management K. Satyagopal, also urged the public to take precautions and be safe. He also enquired about the status of deployment of state disaster relief personnel to waterlogged pockets of Mudichur and north Chennai.
Local administration minister S.P. Velumani and corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan also conducted a review meeting to ascertain the distribution of food packets and temporary shelters arranged for the public in case of evacuation.
