“As far as forecast for next 24 hours is concerned, it is likely to rain at many places in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, with some areas likely to experience heavy rainfall”, he added.
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The water circulate in the Adyar river has come down as the quantum of surplus water launched into the river from Chembarambakkam lake fell.
Sanitation workers have begun spraying insecticide in many places to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue due to the stagnant water collected in large parts of the city.
Supplies of safe drinking water, milk and newspapers were slowly improving and the local transport services were picking up.
Railway services resumed partially, with a few trains running from Chennai’s main train station. He said officials from different political parties had visited the area but done little to help.
More than 10,000 people had been rescued but many were still marooned, NDTV news channel reported.
“We have stepped up our deployment in Tamil Nadu and surrounding areas”.
He said that the NDRF personnel had rescued 16,000 people and were committed to do their best to help the people of the state. The calls received on the two helpline numbers – 011-24363260, 09711077372 – are routed to the NDRF On-Site Emergency Operation Coordination Centre (OSOCC) at Kilpauk in Chennai via satellite phone updates, said its Information Technology wing head and Assistant Commandant, Krishan Kumar.
Train services and flights to Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, were washed out and the navy has pressed fishing boats into service to evacuate people from the worst-hit suburbs to temples, schools and wedding halls.
After their separate aerial surveys, Jayalalithaa had on Thursday met the Prime Minister and urged for an immediate relief of Rs 5,000 crore, to which he responded by announcing Rs 1000 crore more for relief work in Tamil Nadu.
Representatives of Ministries of Defence, Food, Railways, Agriculture, Health, Department of Telecommunications, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), India Meteorological Department (IMD) and NDRF participated in the CMG meeting.
“I can’t even believe that this much water is possible in Chennai”, a resident told NDTV television as she stood in waist-deep water.
“About 120 rescued people were flown to Delhi in a C-130J (Super Hercules) yesterday, while another 100 were rescued from Meenambakam Airport area”.
“We feel rather helpless”, he said.
Continuous rain over the last 14 days has caused massive flooding in South India affecting the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
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Weather officials said rainfall in Chennai had diminished since earlier in the week, but parts of the city of 4.6 million people remained submerged.
