The Tamil Nadu government has said in a statement that a total of 6,605 relief centres were opened in the state.
Advertisement
“The floods in Chennai were rarest of rare natural calamity and were not caused by any failure of management of water releases from reservoirs”, he said.
Gnanadesikan said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on November 30 and December 1 had issued advisories of isolated heavy rainfall and not 50 cm rainfall as reported by some media groups.
The latest weather forecast has predicted heavy rains in Tamil Nadu but said there may be rains or thundershowers at a few places in Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts and isolated rains in the rest of the state and Puducherry.
The Chief Secretary said the Chembarambakkam tank situated in Sriperumbudur has a storage capacity of 3,645 (TMC ft) about 33 per cent of storage capacity of city reservoirs, he said, the full tank level is 24 feet and maximum discharging capacity was 33,060 cusecs. “In accordance with the Rules for Flood Regulation of the Compendium of Rules for Regulation, prior intimation of the releases including of step up of releases was given by the Assistant Engineer, who is the Controlling Officer”, he said. “All the tanks within the Adyar catchment reached full capability and the excess water flowed into the Adyar River”, the assertion stated.
On December 9, TOI was the first to say that officials could have anticipated the heavy rain and released water proactively.
“In view of the heavy flow in the Adyar river, the high intensity runoff of local rainfall in Chennai city and adjoining urban areas could not fully drain into the Adyar and hence contributed to the inundation of the city”, Gnanadesikan said.
Advertisement
The alert was given to the District Collector of Chennai and Kancheepuram, Commissioner of Police, Chennai, Corporation of Chennai and others requesting them to take all necessary precautionary measures, like evacuation of the people living in the flood plain of the Adyar River.
