The NCMC, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, took stock of the flood situation in Chennai and its neighbouring districts besides Puducherry with Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu K Gnanadesikan and top officials of central ministries and departments.
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Though the torrential rains took a break and sun came out in brief spells, new areas of the city like Kodambakkam, Ashok Nagar and T Nagar were flooded on Thursday after overnight discharge of 30,000 cusecs of water from Chembarambakkam, one of the key sources of drinking water for the city.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is one of India’s biggest auto manufacturing and information technology hubs, with an aggregate capitalisation of over €41 billion, all of which have been forced to shut down due to flooding. “The government of India stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Tamil Nadu in this hour of need”.
The chief minister, however, urged Modi to immediately release Rs 50,000 million ($748 million) for flood relief works. He said that was indicative of an extremely heavy retreating monsoon.
But state officials said accessing it was hard, as all roads leading to it had either been washed away or were under water and impassable.
Apart from trade and industry, it is the common people. small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and auto ancillary units that have been worst affected by this catastrophe, it said.
People were fleeing the city in thousands even as the military swung into action to rescue people stranded in floods.
“Chennai airport is completely safe and after water recedes, they will inspect the runway and full efforts will be given to resume the flight services at the earliest”, he said.
Delegates at the climate change summit in Paris used the flooding in Chennai to remind negotiators Thursday of the urgency of the climate problem and urged them to speed up discussions. In the upper House, Singh said the government would soon finalize assistance for West Bengal. Experts say the floods in the city are most directly linked to the El Nino weather pattern, when the waters of the Pacific Ocean get warmer than usual.
“It is shocking to see how (Chennai) has collapsed in the last 48 hours”, said University of Madras professor Anant Raghav.
More than 5,000 houses were under water and many people were still trapped on rooftops, while others crowded in relief camps.
Rescue operations were underway, led by the National Disaster Response Force and civic groups.
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This most recent rainfall has resulted in closure of Chennai’s airport along with widespread road closures and power outages according to the Associated Press.
