The city of Chennai has shutdown. The airport is shut, the Metro is not operational, buses are not plying, most roads are flooded and several houses have water up to first or second-floor levels. Mobile towers are down rendering phones useless and ATMs too are not working.
On Wednesday in Chennai 35 major lakes breached, spilling over their banks.
Seven subways have been shut down and all trains from Egmore and Chennai train stations have been cancelled. People are seen waiting for hours at bus stops since buses are not plying.
Chennai’s woes are far from over. According to the IMD, the three districts of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Thriuvallur will receive heavy rainfall for the next three days. “Due to low pressure rainfall will continue in next 24 hours in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with some places receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall,” said Regional Meteorological Department Director, S.R. Ramanan. Cuddolore district is also preparing for heavy rainfall. On Wednesday however, Chennai received a rainfall of just 3 cm.
Tambaram and Chembarambakkam areas of Chennai received the highest rainfall in last 24 hours, with 49 cm and 47 cm respectively.
Due to the overflowing of Adyar River, areas like Saidapet, Kotturpuram and Ekkaduthangal are considered under danger. At least two people are known to have been washed away in Kotturpuram.
Low-lying areas like Chennai Sholinganallur and Velachery are also heavily flooded.
Civic authorities in Chennai, state government officials, Army, Navy and the NDRF are on the field, but we understand from ground reports that the rescue operations have not been sufficient due to the scale of the natural disaster. Political parties and the TN government have sought more help from the Centre. Twelve teams of NDRF are being sent from Bubhaneshwar.