Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 7: The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday announced closure of all schools and colleges in four districts of the state from Monday because of an unprecedented downpour in the last two days inundating vast area of the capital city of Chennai where people had to wade through knee to waist deep water totally disrupting normal life. Rain water has also entered many houses in the relatively low lying areas.
Stalin told the media that all educational institutions as a precautionary measure in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpet and Kancheepuram districts would remain closed for two days due to severe rains and the forecast for more rains over the next two days. He also requested people with plans to travel to Chennai to postpone their travel by two or three days.
Following a request from the state government, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed four teams to assist in rescue operations. The heavy rain has hit road and rail services. Though a few flights were delayed, there was no major disruption in air services.
Chennai received a downpour through the night, recording 21 cm of rainfall till 8.30 am on Sunday. Several low-lying areas of the city were flooded. The weather bureau while forecasting more rains in the next two days said the north east monsoon had been active over Tamil Nadu for the last fortnight and had been bringing in copious rains, with the government informing that the State has received 41% excess rainfall during this period.
From November 6 morning, Chennai and several suburbs in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts witnessed intermittent rains and showers became non-stop since night that led to inundation in many areas, inconveniencing people.
In the next 24 hours, some parts of Chennai are likely to get thunderstorms with heavy to very heavy rainfall. A few places in Chennai may get extremely heavy rainfall too while a forecast has also been made for a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal on November 9.
The weather department has predicted that isolated places in north coastal Tamil Nadu will receive heavy to very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall due to the influence of a cyclonic circulation in Bay of Bengal. The Met Department has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall on Monday and warned of another spell of heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
With the lakes around Chennai swelling, water is being released from the Chembarambakkam lake. The 85.4 feet-high lake now has water till 82.35 feet. In 2015, Chennai was flooded due to sudden excessive discharge from Chembarambakkam lake amid heavy rainfall.
Officials said this regular discharge of water will not lead to flooding but if there is excess rain, areas around Muduchur may get inundated. A flood alert has been issued in Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts on the banks of River Adyar.
Stalin discussed preparedness with district collectors and visited 14 waterlogged areas. He told the media that four NDRF teams had been deployed to Madurai and Chengalpet districts.
He said authorities were using high power pumps to remove water from waterlogged areas in over 500 areas. “People are also being moved to safe locations. 160 relief camps are ready in Chennai. 44 are already in operation and food is being provided there,” he said.
Stalin said over 50,000 food packets had been distributed in Chennai and this would continue. He further added that he had ordered officials to fix fallen electricity poles and fix potholes on priority. “It is also my request to the people to avoid waterlogged areas for safety reasons,” he said. On accusations by the AIADMK of the DMK government being unprepared, Stalin said some were making accusations for political gains. “Everyone knows what happened at Chembarambakkam in their regime. I don’t want to go into all that now. When we got information about the rains, under my leadership and the Chief Secretary, we advised district collectors to make necessary arrangements on Saturday itself,” he said. On the waterlogging in Chennai and surrounding districts, he said it was due to severe rainfall in a very short period of time.