Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveyed the destruction and flooding from an air force helicopter.
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Earlier, Modi arrived from Delhi at the naval working station “INS Rajali” in Arakkonam, about 60 km from here, and made an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Chennai, its suburbs and Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts.
“Worst photoshop ever!” tweeted Wilbur Sargunaraj.
According to the Home Ministry, 269 people have lost their lives due to the calamity in the state in over three weeks.
The prime minister is a prolific tweeter with more than 16 million followers. “This is unprecedented”, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament after days of torrential rain led to a dramatic worsening of the weeks-long crisis.
Modi, who flew into Chennai earlier in the day, said he had directed that Rs.1,000 crore be released to Tamil Nadu for immediate relief to the flood victims.
Intermittent rain has been forecast for Chennai in the next 24 hours, while the coastal and interior districts of the state will also receive more rainfall.
People carry children on their shoulders and wade through flood waters in Chennai, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.
Some areas are still badly affected and remain cut off. Rescue teams are now focussing on these neighbourhoods while trying to get food and medicines to thousands of people who have been affected.
The Indian Air force (IAF) on Thursday conducted operations to provide relief to those affected by the devastating rains in Chennai.
With marshlands and canals encroached upon, the city hardly has an outlet for flood water in case of such incessant rain.
The Centre stepped up relief operations with deployment of Army and Navy assets and units of the National Disaster Relief Force.
Officials said that from a discharge of 30,000 cusecs of water from Chembarampakkam, one of the key sources of drinking water supply to Chennai city, it has come down to 13,000 cusecs in the afternoon and 5,000 cusecs at night after there were no fresh rains today.
Although the rain is part of the normal monsoon, Chennai received as much rain in two days as it does in a couple of months.
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“The government will stand by the people of Tamil Nadu in their hour of need”, Modi told reporters, while promising 10 billion rupees ($150 million) for reconstruction. She said that a total of 62,267 people were rescued and given shelter in schools, cinema halls and railway stations.
