Chennai city experienced incessant rains on Dec.3 and 4 due to the cyclonic storm Michaung, with the City receiving 469 mm of rain in 48 hours. The continuous rains left the city flooded, and the residents stranded without power and mobile network.
The downpour severely impacted the areas of Velachery, OMR, Pallikaranai and north Madras, with neck deep water or more. Boats were deployed at such places to evacuate the residents; however efforts fell short of the magnitude of the impact.
Photo courtesy: Vijaykumar Duraiarasan; www.xplorewithvijay.com
In the Adyar neighbourhood, while areas of Kotturpuram and Adyar didn’t report excessive waterlogging, Sastri Nagar, Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur and beyond were badly impacted, with at least knee deep water.
The irony being that the aforementioned areas were waterlogged in the previous years and the latter, not. Kamaraj Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, reported waist-deep water extending till Dr.Radhakrishna Nagar.
Many localities waited for help / relief from Corporation and elected representatives, which came a little late. Residents of RMSM (Dr.Radhakrishnan Nagar, Marundeeswarar Nagar, Sivakamipuram, Malaviya Avenue) and RWAs of ECR staged their discontent by protesting at waterlogged areas as on main roads. “Until the last rains, there was no waterlogging, but this year has been bad. Apart from the rainwater, people are pumping out water from their apartment into the already stagnant roads. Because of this, power supply is not resumed. This needs to be regulated. We tried to reach the Corporation and they gave only empty promises,” said Geeta Padmanabhan, RMSM on Dec.6.
Post the protests, action ensued, water cleared and power was restored. It however took days to clear the water at Kamaraj Nagar, impacting traffic at Jayanthi signal.
Geeta added that at Dr.Radhakrishna Nagar and its neighbourhood, the cause of such flooding was due to multiple reasons: (a) backlash from Kamaraj Nagar,which is a low-lying area; (b) not enough desilting done before the rains; (c) pumping of water from residence onto the main roads. The same was opined by other residents in Besant Nagar as well.
Nonagenarian Kamakshi Subramaniyan, Besant Nagar, waded through knee deep water to move to another house for safety, “The water had a strong current and was pushing us down while we were reaching for safety. Rain water drained fast, however, pumping of water from the main roads and schools around inundated the streets again.”
Along with the views of flooding and whirring motors diverting water from one road to another, on Dec.6, one also witnessed road-blocks because of fallen trees. Zone 13 lost a total of 45 trees on Dec 4 and 5.
Here we present some of the reactions we received:
V.R.Pandarinath, Thiruvanmiyur.
Photo courtesy: Vijaykumar Duraiarasan; www.xplorewithvijay.com
