269 dead in Tamil Nadu, 54 in AP

A man carries a dog as he wades through a flooded street in Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil …

After their separate aerial surveys of the flood-ravaged areas, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday and urged for a direct relief of Rs 5,000 crore, to which he responded by saying Rs 1000 crore extra for relief work in Tamil Nadu.

Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai, an MP from the AIADMK, said the central government should accept all the demands of the Tamil Nadu chief minister relating to the flood situation.

A man waits for food packets in floodwaters following heavy rains in Chennai, India, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.

On Wednesday also a host of telecom operators such as Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Aircel – offered free talk time to the Chennai flood victims. Rain Fury’Tamil Nadu witnessing an unprecedented situation with rainfall breaking a century’s record’.

The home minister, Rajnath Singh, told parliament: “Chennai has become a small island. We have broken up our teams into sector and have dispersed them in south Chennai where the damage is the most”, DG NDRF OP Singh told ANI. “But today, we have no drinking water, no fresh food and no control over our lives”, said Sudha Raman Murthy, a mother of two teenage daughters, who was using pots and pans to bail water out of parts of her house.

But the task of resurrecting an entire city could prove to be hard as the Chennai airport remained completely submerged.

The Chennai Airport will remain closed till Sunday. At the old Tambaram Railway Station, local trains have been parked on the tracks and are awaiting green signal for the last several days. Google has also posted a link on its homepage called “Resources for the Chennai floods”, which provides details about relief camps and updates people about the situation in the city.

Even as the weather cleared, waters rose in many residential areas, fed by spills from 35 lakes that have risen to risky levels. The Adyar river that passes through the city is overflowing as surplus water from Chembarambakkam lake is let into the river.

At least 269 people have died in Tamil Nadu due to rain-related incidents in the past one month.

The incessant rains in Chennai and the coastal parts of Tamil Nadu over the last few weeks has wreaked havoc and disrupted normal in the state.

“The city has come to a virtual standstill and is in the grip of fear and panic”, industry lobby group Assocham, which estimated the loss caused by the floods at Rs.15,000 crore, said in a statement.

Arun Ebenezer was visiting a friend on Tuesday when the downpour started.

The Grand Southern Trunk Road that links Chennai with Madurai and beyond was cut off after breaches in several places in Kanchipuram district.

The extreme weather in Chennai comes as heads of state are meeting in Paris to try and work out a new treaty to limit global warming and deal with its effects.

Jet Airways on Thursday said it has suspended flight operations at rain-hit Chennai airport till 12 noon on December 6 due to waterlogging caused by heavy rainfall.

This year, India had a weaker than usual summer monsoon, as it usually does in an El Nino year.

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