Kerala Assembly offers support to rain-hit Chennai

While the rain let up in Chennai on Thursday, water released by overflowing bodies of water – including lakes, reservoirs and dams – flooded low-lying areas in some parts of the coastal city.

“Financial losses due to record breaking rainfall in Chennai and several parts of Tamil Nadu may even exceed Rs 15,000 crore mark”, the chamber said.

Responding to concern expressed by members in Parliament during a discussion on the flood situation in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere yesterday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that as many as 269 people had died in rain-related incidents in the current north-east monsoon season in the state.

The state government had offered support to flood-affected Tamil Nadu in the rescue operations, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy informed the Assembly on Thursday.

Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was leaving for Chennai on Thursday to take stock of the flood situation as rains subdued to a light drizzle on Thursday morning.

Floods cut off basic services for more than three million people and hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has so far evacuated 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages.

Caritas India, the aid agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, has dispatched some 2.5 million rupees as emergency fund to Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state battered by the century’s worst floods.

Rescue operations were underway, led by the National Disaster Response Force and civic groups.

Over 30 Army trucks have also been employed by the rescue teams for ferrying stranded people in areas where the water level is less than 6 feet.

Poor phone networks were hampering rescue efforts, while washed out bridges were slowing delivery of relief supplies, National Disaster Management Authority senior official Anurag Gupta said.

Rainfall was light on Thursday after a downpour of 345 millimeters (14 inches) of rain struck the area earlier in the week.

The Indian Air Force has pressed into service three aircraft to evacuate hundreds of passengers stranded at the Chennai airport where operations were suspended due to heavy rains and water logging on the runway.

On Wednesday, commissioner of Chennai corporation, Vikram Kapur, said the rivers were still at the danger level and the surplus water was being released into Chennai.

The latest bout is the result of an area of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) that provides telecom services under the brand MTS today announced that it will provide 1 GB of FREE data upload with 3 days of validity to all its customers in Tamil Nadu circle.

Tamil Nadu was also hit by heavy rain last month after a storm made landfall in Cuddalore. “It’s a very frustrating situation”, said a home ministry official, requesting anonymity.

“Our top priority is to rescue marooned people on the first and second floors and getting them to safer, drier places”, he told AFP.