18 patients die in India hospital as floods cut off power

The top bureaucrat of the government also directed authorities that adequate supply of petroleum products at terminals and retail outlets may be ensured in Tamil Nadu.

Fourteen sufferers admitted at an intensive care unit of MIOT Hospital close to right here died because of energy failure following floods, an official stated. The cause of deaths was being probed.

The DG said the force is stepping up its operations each day and now their aim is to provide water and food to as many marooned people as they can.

India’s fourth-largest city has boomed in the 21st century as a centre for vehicle factories and IT outsourcing, but trash-filled drains and building on lake beds in the rush to industrialisation and prosperity has made it more flood-prone. “And my cellphone is dead because there is no electricity to charge it”. Similarly, other lakhs have also slowed down their discharge.

“What is heartwarming is that the people of Chennai are helping out”, said Arun Ebenezer, who has been forced to stay with a friend for three days after rain began to beat down on Tuesday.

Dhatwalia said the priority was to fix phone networks, distribute drinking water, medicines, food for infants and prevent the spread of water-borne diseases.

M. Vijaykumar, a deputy director at the Tamil Nadu fire service, said residents in the area were refusing to leave even though the water level had dropped slightly. However, trains continued to be cancelled as a large number of tracks remain remained submerged in many places.

Milk supplies were erratic and many citizens complained that vegetables were still being sold at high rates. Transport services were also showing signs of picking up.

Two Naval vessels INS Shakti and INS Shyadhri arrived Chennai on Friday with relief materials, while limited air services were offered from the naval airbase at INS Rajali at Arakkonam, some 85 km west of Chennai.

The services are being operated on the fast lines between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram, a press release from the railway said.

A meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) was held here under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary P. K. Sinha to review the flood situation in the state and take stock of the relief measures being done by multiple agencies like NDRF and army.

Chennai received more than a foot of rain during a 24-hour period this week, which is more than the city typically sees in the entire month of December, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the AP.

“We have rescued more than 10,000 people till now”.

Singapore’s Consulate-General in Chennai has contacted most of its registered nationals in Tamil Nadu and reported they were safe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “Around 130 trains had to be cancelled today and we have cancelled around 500 trains till now”.