Flooded Chennai airport shutdown, army out in city

The city has been battered by non-stop rains
Flooded Chennai airport shutdown, army out in city
Flooded Chennai airport shutdown, army out in city
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Chennai airport will remain shut until December 6, PTI has reported on Wednesday evening.

Earlier, authorities had said that the airport would remain shut until 6 am on Thursday.

Officials were forced to shut down the airport as rain pounded Chennai incessantly for hours Tuesday night. The runway, taxiway and other areas on the airport premises began flooding.

Flight operations were halted at the Chennai airport and in a review done at 11 pm on Wednesday, authorities decided to shut the airport till morning. Following a review meeting on Thursday morning, it was decided to continue the shutdown until Thursday morning.

Airport director Deepak Shastri told NDTV that the drainage system has been "overwhelmed", water is reaching the under carriage of aircraft and flights cannot take off till the water level recedes.

Meanwhile, relief centres across the city had people trickling in as rainwater inundated most areas in the city.

Earlier, Chennai district Collector had issued a flood alert to people living on the banks of river Adyar in Chennai.  Tambaram and Urapakkam were two areas that witnessed the worst flooding and two columns of army’s Garrison Infantry Battalion were pressed into service in the areas.

Not just Chennai, Cuddalore too was flooded as the district received 16 cm rainfall through the day.

(This report has been updated.)

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