A general view shows buildings inundated by floodwaters in Chennai on Thursday.
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Rescue operations are going on in full swing in rain-hit Chennai. The officials said that scope of “Operation Madad” will increase in the coming days.
Each year from early November to late December, India experiences its monsoon season.
Thousands of rescuers raced to evacuate residents from deadly flooding Thursday, as India Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the southern state of Tamil Nadu to survey the devastation. “A total of 50 NDRF teams are here and this is so far the most massive deployment in any flood related situation”, NDRF DG OP Singh told ANI.
Officials at the power utility told a news agency that electricity supply would be restored as the waters – which have turned virtually the whole of Chennai into a lake – recede. “However, intensity of rains will be restricted to light showers with few moderate spells only”, private weather forecaster, Skymet Weather, has predicted.
“The authorities didn’t give us adequate information about water being released from a nearby lake”.
In one of the most shocking incidents, the patients in the intensive care unit of the MIOT International hospital died after floods took out generators running life-support systems, Prithvi Mohandas, a doctor at the hospital, said.
As the Chennai airport is shut due to flood, the force is operating from the INS Rajali Naval airbase at Arakkonam, about 60-kms from Chennai. But another cloud burst was forecast within hours and officials said brimming waterways were the main concern in the low-lying coastal capital of Tamil Nadu state. An intensified relief and rescue operation has been started by NDRF, adding ten more teams for the job and having rescued 9,000 people as of now.
Meanwhile, the IAF in its rescue operations has established an air bridge from Meenambakkam to Arakonnam, and another between Arakonnam and Tambaram Air Base, almost 30 kms from Chennai.
“We feel rather helpless”, he said.
The Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and local government departments were all assisting in relief and rescue work. They have seen their possessions float away from the house.
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The US has expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the people affected by the worst floods in Chennai and has offered assistance to address the humanitarian challenge “especially in the case of strong partners like India”. “We don’t have any milk”, she said, adding that she was searching for a shop selling food, “but I’m scared to walk down this road”.
