PM Modi assures all help as Worst rain cripples Chennai

mangaloretoday.com

Chennai, Dec 02, 2015:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chef Minister Jayalalithaa assuring all possible help as heavy rains today pounded several parts of Tamil Nadu with most areas of the capital witnessing waterlogging severely disrupting airport, train and bus services..

The number of people killed in rain related incidents touched 188, according to the state government. The Army has been called in tonight in at least two suburban areas to undertake rescue on a war footing as torrential rains since last night crippled several parts of Chennai, its suburbs and Puducherry.

 

Two columns of Army’s Garrison Infantry Battalion have been pressed into service in Tambaram and Oorapakkam after the Tamil Nadu government sought military assistance. The Navy is also on stand-by.

All flight operations at Chennai airport were suspended tonight until further review and a number of flights disrupted as waters inundated the runway and the tarmac.

 

 

The rains that have virtually broken a 100-year-old record with one day’s rainfall covering a month’s average also flooded areas in Vadapalani, Valasaravakkam and Nandamvakkam as nearby lakes overflowed into the city.

Met department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains in the next four days.

Nearly 4,000 people living on the banks of Adayar river in Chennai were evacuated to safer zones, officials said. The river was in spate following discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam reservoir.

As a precautionary measure, Tamil Ndu Electricity Board switched off power in the suburban areas where it is supplied through overhead cables in the wake of deaths due to electrocution.

Most areas of Chennai, which have already been lashed by rains for over a fortnight, went under water today severely disrupting train and bus services and forcing postponment of half-yearly school exams and closure of schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.

A large part of the road near Madhya Kailash temple in the heart of the city in an area that connects the IT corridor, caved in resulting in a huge crater and disrupting traffic.

Several people including actor Siddharth and music composer A R Rahman took to Twitter to express their anguish over the situation in Chennai.