Central Tamil Nadu coast most vulnerable: MeT

The Indian military has evacuated more than 2000 residents stranded in the southern state of Tamil Nadu as the death toll from flooding rose to 269 after the heaviest cloudburst in over a century.

There was sporadic rainfall on Thursday, after a 24-hour storm dumped as much as 345mm (14 inches) of rain on the city earlier this week.

Meanwhile, floodwaters began receding in Chennai after the rains stopped Thursday, according to local media reports. T E N Simhan, a private sector employee, said he was desperately trying to get in touch with his cousin in West Mambalam, one of the many areas that remained flooded.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today flew to Chennai to take stock of the flood situation in the state.

The prime minister cited the floods as a effect of climate change in his weekly radio address on Sunday, a day before meeting other world leaders at a global climate summit in Paris.

Chennai, he said, had received torrential rains, and the meteorological department had forecast more rains in the next two-three days.

“We are all pained by the devastation in Tamil Nadu”. Assocham, an industry lobby, estimated that financial losses from the floods could exceed $US2.25 billion.

“The southern part of the city has been most affected”, he said.

The US has expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the people affected by the worst floods in Chennai and has offered assistance to address the humanitarian challenge “especially in the case of strong partners like India”.

Facebook activated their Safety Check feature on Thursday morning, while people travelling to Chennai to help out in the rescue efforts posted about safe road routes.

An aerial view of Chennai showed low-lying neighbourhoods as well the city’s airport nearly completely submerged.

Seven commercial flight operations were given the green signal to operate from the Rajali naval base in Arakkonam, with the minister of state, civil aviation, Mahesh Sharma notifying that flight tickets would be priced at Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 to streamline the rush.

Experts said haphazard construction, faulty drainage and a build-up of garbage had contributed to the disaster.

There was some improvement in the mobile telephone services while many areas continued to remain without electricity, with supply disconnected in some parts as a precautionary measure by the authorities.

Referring to the Rs. 940 crore released by the central government Jayalalithaa said the amount included Rs.133.79 crore of arrears from 2014-15 towards the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs.254.62 crore towards the second instalment of SDRF for the current fiscal.

“In Chennai, each of its lakes has a natural flood discharge channel which drains the spillover”.