R Senthil Kumar/Associated Press …
Advertisement
The Indian Air force (IAF) on Thursday conducted operations to provide relief to those affected by the devastating rains in Chennai. The heaviest rainfall in more than 100 years has devastated swathes of the southern Indian state of Tamil N…
Soldiers set up 25 temporary shelters and community kitchens and installed portable toilets to care for the victims of the floods in India’s fourth most populous city.
Heavy rains continue to lash coastal Cuddalore district, one of the worst affected areas ever since North-East monsoon fury started early last month, and Villupuram and Kanyakumari districts and Puducherry as the death toll in the state mounted to 269. The meeting also chose to move two additional columns of the army in these areas even as officials of these central departments were asked to keep in constant touch with their Tamil Nadu counterparts, a Home Ministry spokesperson said after the CMG meeting.
“As of 10 this morning, 91 Malaysian tourists and students were still stranded but majority are located in the “safe zone” where in some areas, the flood waters were receding”. Many took to reaching out to complete strangers online in a bid to get in touch with their families, as the majority of phone lines broke down in Tamil Nadu state.
(AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.).
The southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) is experiencing a respite from rains, but forecasts of more showers remain in place.
It’s a pattern that’s been repeated for at least a decade.
The city had another period of serious flooding in mid-November during the October-December wet season.
“Chennai has destroyed its water bodies the same way Mumbai had”.
Chennai’s airport was closed for a third day.
Low-lying areas in the city were submerged.
The US government, which has a consulate in Chennai, also offered its support, though it said it hadn’t received any formal request for assistance.
The electricity supply, meanwhile, remains erratic, with flooded streets posing a security hazard to power distribution companies.
Twitter and other social media platforms became the main communication tools for those stranded in and around Chennai. “Food, clothes – all gone”, she said.
After a few days, finally, the Chennai residents felt the sunshine yesterday and a small break from the rain, is being considered as the greatest relief by the public.
The floods in Chennai were caused by unregulated urbanization and climate-change induced freak weather, Sunita Narain, director general of New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said.
On Friday, he planned to try and make his way home, but was unsure about how far he could go. The government should not have approved those projects.
Advertisement
“A lot of people built their houses on lake beds”.
