Army steps in as third big spell of rain maroons, drowns Chennai

CHENNAI: Pounded twice in November by heavy spells of rain, Chennai was brought to its knees by a third knock on Tuesday, yet it fought back.
About 120cm of rain had submerged Chennai in November, as the northeast monsoon washed away a 100-year record. Tuesday's downpour showed that the worst was not over, bringing 20cm of rainfall within a 14-hour window starting 8.30am.
The showers left half the city marooned, and the other half virtually submerged. Schools and colleges were closed, factories downed their shutters, power supply was suspended, and hospitals overflowed with patients - and water. The city airport was temporarily shut.
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Two columns of the Army's Garrison Infantry Battalion were pressed into service in Tambaram and Oorapakkam after the state government sought military assistance. The Navy is also on stand-by.
Residents of southern suburbs, including Tambaram and Mudichur, were the worst affected. Coastal Security Group personnel stepped in for an overnight rescue operation at Mudichur after water rose beyond the ground floor of apartment complexes, and residents began sending out SOS messages. In Chromepet, water flooded the government hospital and five boats ferried expectant mothers and women with their newborns from the maternity ward.
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The city was virtually cut off from the southern destinations after a flooded GST Road forced officials to divert buses to and from the city from Chengalpet. Motorists on Anna Salai, GST Road, Poonamallee High Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, CTH Road and OMR struggled under knee-deep water and traffic moved at a snail's pace. Some companies, especially those on OMR, declared holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa said the government was ready for a massive relief and rescue operation. "State police, fire and rescue services, state and national disaster response forces and coast guard are ready to rescue people using boats. Adequate precautionary measures are being taken to protect people," she said.

Senior ministers including O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami have been deputed to oversee relief measures in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore and Kancheepuram districts.
The chief minister said she had ordered the electricity department to take up a review of safety precautions, and the health department to shift patients from waterlogged Tambaram government hospital to other hospitals.

(A tree fell down on Prakasam street in T Nagar due to the heavy rain lashed in Chennai. (TOI photo: C Suresh Kumar)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the midst of the climate change conference in Paris, called up the chief minister and promised "all necessary support in rescue, relief and restoration operations," said a government press release. Many lakes at Guduvanchery, Urapakkam, Perungalathur, Padappai, Mannivakkam and Adhanur bbreached their banks and flooded residential areas in the southern suburbs, mainly west Tambaram. Several passengers were stranded at the arrival terminals while a few depended on trains and buses. With rail tracks between Tambaram and Villupuram submerged, The railways cancelled 12 express trains on Tuesday and six on Wednesday, all bound for southern destinations.
As officials released 29,000 cusecs of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adyar river, police and corporation officials fanned out to low-lying areas like Saidapet and Kotturpuram and urged residents to move to the 36 relief centres set up in government schools. Until late evening, 3,600 people had been evacuated from slum tenements in Adyar, Kotturpuram and Saidapet. "Some people collected food from relief camps but they all want to go back home. We are only convincing those who live by the banks of the Adyar to stay back," said a senior corporation official.
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The corporation didn't use any boats though they it stationed 60 across the city. Five vehicular subways were closed and workers found it difficult to carry out rescue operations in pouring rain.
This is the third time the city has been pushed into a rain-related emergency in less than a month and the civic infrastructure virtually collapsed. But the worries of civic officials were focused on the situation outside the city. "All water from Kancheepuram comes to the city's rivers and canals, complicating matters further," a corporation official said.