Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took an aerial survey of the flooded city, later met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and offered Rs 10,000 million ($149 million) for flood relief operations from the National Disaster Response Fund. The Prime Minister announced an immediate release of Rs 1,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation works in Tamil Nadu.
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PM said, “I have seen the damage and misery caused by the extremely heavy rainfall”.
Another bout of torrential rain has brought disruption to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including India’s fourth largest city, Chennai.
Chennai remained virtually cut off from the rest of the country as air, rail and road transport services continued to be suspended.
Dozens of trains to the state have been delayed this week, and on Thursday the main train station was so heavily flooded that it had to shut down operations. Prices of milk, vegetables, and essential commodities also shot up because of a shortage in supply.
“The Centre received Tamil Nadu’s demand of Rs 8,481 crore on October 28”, Singh said, adding that the Centre has provided Rs 940.92 crore.
According to Singh, 54 people have been killed in neighboring Andhra Pradesh state in rain-related incidents. More than 160,000 people were housed in 460 camps in Chennai, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts. People were seen raising their hands screaming for help from roof tops during air dropping of food, medicines and water pouches by the government agencies.
The floods have displaced about 1 million people in the Chennai area, local reporter Aloysis Lopez said.
While 12 Navy ships, including INS Arihant with 155 personnel have been pressed into service, the IAF was also helping in the effort by deploying 14 teams of NDRF, he said.
Heavy rain is known to have resulted in the deaths of at least 188 people in Tamil Nadu since the start of November.
Inspite fast flowing currents at a few places, the Army teams are presently reaching out to the most affected and critical areas, sources said.
“Our flight back home was supposed to have been today, and with the airport closed until Dec 6, we are trying to secure boat service to take us to higher ground so that we can find our way back home, either via the Tiruchi Airport or Bengaluru International Airport in Karnataka”, said Kamalakannan.
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Deputy inspector-general of Indian Coast Guard, Goa region, Manoj Baadkar, said the Indian Coast Guard, Goa region, and the MPT authorities have chose to dispatch water bottles, blankets, water purifier tablets, “ready to cook meals” and other materials to the rain-hit areas of Tamil Nadu.
