Every year during November-December, the North – East monsoon would bring downpour in Coromandel Coast of south Indian states Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. But this year, it was stronger, the credit goes to perfect storm that resulted out of meteorological conditions that formed in hottest ever Indian Ocean.
On 9 – 10 November 2015, Neyveli received it’s highest downpour in 20 years about 483 mm of rainfall, while rains continued to lash Cuddalore, Chidambaram and Chennai. Due to continuous rain, low lying areas of Chennai are inundated by 13 November 2015. More than 1000 families left their homes to safety.
On 15 -16 November, Chennai received 246.5mm of rainfall. This is the highest amount of rainfall recorded since November 2005. On 17th November Chennai reached 1049mm of rainfall falling next to 1088mm of rainfall received in November 1918. The flooding that was caused became the worst in a century. The continuous rain led to closing of school and colleges across Puducherry, Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu
Photo: Map for Chennai on December 1 Source: NASA
Indian Meteorological Department predicted heavy rainfall over Tamil Nadu for another week as another low pressure system started to develop in Indian Ocean on 29th November. On December 1, 2015, freak weather conditions all came together on one single day to swamp Chennai with the heaviest rainfall in a century. The clouds dumped up to 490 mm of rain on parts of Chennai over 24 hours.
On December 2, PWD officials were releasing 30,000 cusecs from the Chembarambakkam reservoir. Consequently, the Adyar was in spate, flooding most parts of the southern and even central parts of the city. PWD officials insist that the discharge was necessary as they could not afford to risk the safety of the reservoir.
By afternoon of 1 December, 60% of the city’s power supply were suspended to avoid large-scale electrocution. A lot of difficulties in communication occurred as many mobile networks had lost their signals due to various damages caused in towers.
Photo : Waterlogged: Indira Gandhi Airport
Due to heavy rain, the runway of the international airport of Chennai was inundated leading to cancellation of flights. With airport shut, over 700 people have been stranded at the Chennai Airport. The Indian Navy’s air base at Arakkonam, 70 km west of Chennai, was readied for commercial flights to evacuate hundreds of passengers stranded The Railways had their own misery, much of the trains that were supposed to reach Chennai were stopped in stations before Chennai. Over 35 trains has been cancelled leaving over thousands of passengers stranded at Central station and Egmore.
Most people were stuck within their house as water level reached to 1m in some areas. People formed human chains to traverse treacherous stretches of roads many of which developed sinkholes, sought and found help on social media and dug in at some areas where the water level reached the second floor of apartment buildings.
Prices of milk, vegetables and food items have skyrocketed due to short supply and people were forced to fork out huge amount of money for buying essentials. Milk was sold at around INR 150 per litre and Water Bottles around Rs 100 per litre. Tensions were also palpable as growing lines at the ATMs raised worries of running out of money.
The department of financial services however launched alternative mechanisms like mobile ATM, ATM vans and mobile ATMs mounted on boats to reach people.
Diesel and petrol are in short supply and there were long queues of motorists at the few petrol pumps that were supplying them. Traffic too was affected very badly with vehicles having to navigate through stagnant waters that turned roads into rivulets. Potholes and craters and at places road caving in added to the motorists woes.
Piles of garbage have been swept up by the flood waters, sewage has entered the homes and where the flood waters have not yet receded, there is an unbearable stench. In some areas, people have spotted carcasses floating by, and rodents and snakes run riot in abandoned homes. The situation is ripe for an epidemic, if the State is not prepared.
14 patients were reported to be death due to lack of power supply in MIOT Hospital enraging the relatives and public. Over 300 people had lost their life, few during rescue operations.
#ChennaiRainsHelp – ‘Net’izens swift Responses:
The saving grace has been the reaction from civil society which has shown extraordinary generosity, ingenuity and fortitude in reaching out to the flood victims.
With Chennai coming to a standstill due to rains, social media has become a rallying point for the citizens of Chennai, with most of them offering food, shelter and accommodation for the ones stuck in different parts of the city.
One particular effort to crowdsource places to stay in the form of a google spreadsheet is being extensively shared, where people can fill details of the places where they can help along with a contact number.
It also has a volunteer form where anyone in Chennai can add their names to the list and help out with various tasks like cooking, driving for pick-ups, providing shelter etc.
Many volunteers from outside Chennai, sent much needed relief materials such as food packets, water cans, milk powder, napkins, medicines, clothes and Blankets. A number of malls, multiplexes and colleges have thrown their doors open to the stranded.
Google also has launched their crisis response page titled South India Flooding with resources such as emergency helpline numbers, list of relief centers and crowdsourced maps.
At a time when phone networks could not even sustain local calls and no TV or internet meant literally groping in the dark, radio stations came as a blessing. They relayed information to and from thousands of listeners marooned all over the city and beat glamorized television journalism during the three days of crisis that Chennai went through, and is going through.
In the absence of a coordinated flow of relief materials to the affected areas through a State nodal agency, volunteers of non-governmental organizations and philanthropists who headed to relief camps in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore were confronted allegedly by unruly political elements who sought to hijack their relief efforts.
Photo : Army officials rescuing a family.
Two more ships, INS Shakthi and INS Sahyadri, arrived at the Chennai port from the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam on Saturday carrying 100 tonnes of relief materials and seven lakh litres of packaged water. The ships carried aircraft, 25 inflatable boats and a special rescue team of 108 divers.
Over 50,000 people have been rescued from flooded homes in various areas and lodged in relief centres opened by the Chennai Corporation.
A section of Army personnel complained that they were directionless in reaching people who needed them most as local logistical support was not available in full measure. Also, they had to handle requests to rescue relatives of VIPs at the cost of the commoner.
While most Tamil Celebrities had donated money via their trusts and even encouraged the relief works of their fan clubs, actor Siddarth along with RJ Balaji of Big FM took a step ahead in helping the victims and organizing the volunteers in rescuing them. Actor cum Director Raghava Lawrence also helped in relief works.
In solidarity with the people of Chennai and TN affected by the floods, a few of Telugu cinema’s actors have come together and formed an initiative called ‘Mana Madras Kosam’. Bollywood celebrities like Jacqueline Fernandez, Kalki Koechlin, Boman Irani and Abhishek Bachchan are also supporting this initiative and urging their Twitter followers to donate for the needy through the “Baby” actor’s trust. Collaborating with Ramanaidu Studios, Lakshmi Manchu and Navdeep have also asked people of Hyderabad to donate food and water supplies as well as sanitation supplies. Meanwhile ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ Shah Rukh Khan has donated INR 1 Crore.
While relief works shifted to the next phase in Chennai with the government focussing on rehabilitation and controlling disease outbreaks, in Cuddalore, vast tracts remained under water. In Cuddalore town, inundation continued in Jothi Nagar, Surya Nagar, Ragavendra Nagar and Gnanambal Nagar. The flow of materials to Cuddalore was regulated, but thousands of residents in remote areas, cut off by waters, continued to complain that they were being left out. However, inundation continued in many parts of the district on Tuesday with about 30,000 persons languishing in relief camps and 1.25 lakh accessing food in 71 government centres.
IS RAIN THE ONLY CULPRIT ?
What started out as a natural disaster in the state capital of Tamil Nadu soon became a more serious man-made one, with experts blaming bad urban planning and rampant “encroachment” by fly-by-night property developers for making the situation worse.
The worst affected were the southern suburbs that witnessed an unplanned real estate boom in the last decade with unapproved layouts springing up adjacent to wetlands and water bodies. Since the panchayats are unable to regulate unauthorized construction, residential development in low-level areas has mushroomed. Since the channels are also blocked, the inundation lasts longer.
Added to this was the inadequacy of drains. Most parts of the old city were relatively safe from flooding this time. Of the Corporation’s area, the 172 sq. km of the old city have storm water drains while the remaining 254 sq. km have no storm water drains but only drains constructed by the local bodies that are not connected to the rivers.
Photo : When media was too busy in debating intolerance, at Parthasarathy temple in Chennai, Muslims and Hindus prepare food for victims
While the flooding of the southern parts is recurring during winter, the flooding in the heart of the city exposed the government’s unpreparedness in anticipating the floods based on water release into the Adyar and in disseminating information in advance for the residents to act.
National media was accused of not covering Chennai Floods properly. They were busy covering INTOLERANCE issue, but to their surprise, ‘Humanity’ defeated the cooked-up INTOLERANCE in Chennai. The mosques of Madras have been thrown open to all and various churches, temples and the Chennai gurdwara are organizing food packets in the thousands, while colleges and malls, movie halls, hotels and local bakery chains are unconditionally offering free space and food. People are constantly posting about how many they can accommodate at home; they are actually sharing their homes with perfect strangers.
One major thing we have witnessed is the SPIRIT OF CHENNAI. The immediate swift co-ordinated actions from the Youth via Social Media couldn’t be even reached by the rescue operations from the State and Central Government. With nearly less help from political parties, it was the collective wisdom of the masses that had given the hope that this too shall pass and Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai, will emerge only stronger from the catastrophe.
UPCOMING WEATHER:
The waters have receded as of now, and people are slowly attempting to return to what is left of their homes in most areas of Chennai. Rain will decrease in northern part of Tamil Nadu but in southern part there is a chance of occurring very heavy rainfall over the coastal areas and heavy rainfall in the inner districts. Delta regions and south coastal regions is predicted to get severe rainfall.
———–
Inputs from Aakash S. Written by S G A Thomas.
ONE COMMENT