Flood waters inundate homes and buildings in southern India, even as heavy

Regarding the help, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said, “The USA is ready to assist people of Chennai, Tamil Nadu as they have faced one of the worst flooding in decades”.

The heaviest rainfall in more than 100 years has devastated swathes of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with thousand…

The flood-ravaged city was today struggling to return to normalcy with partial restoration of telecommunication and train services, besides many roads also becoming fairly motorable even as waterlogging woes continued in several areas.

At least 269 people have been killed in the state since heavy rains began in early November, Singh told the AP, although no deaths have been reported in the latest deluge.

While the photo disappeared from the internet, Twitter users quickly set about creating their own altered images of Mr Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu.

Floods cut off more than three million people from basic services and hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has so far evacuated 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages. We only see land for buildings, not for water.

“There are people who haven’t eaten for days”, she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who travelled to Chennai, has promised $US150m ($NZ224) to the flood-hit state.

Experts blame the destruction not on the record-breaking rain but on the city’s “urban sprawl”, the New York Times reports, explaining that much of the city was built in a flood plain.

Residents scramble for food packages distributed in Chennai after heavy rains flooded the city.

Jayalalithaa had also gone over areas in Chennai and its suburbs in an aerial survey, which had been what prompted the additional release of funds.

The government restored some commercial flights to a naval air base near the city, and the Airports Authority of India said the Chennai airport would be open for day-time operations for relief flights. “It has to be drained out soon, but we don’t know how”, said the home ministry official. “But we are working very hard nevertheless to help people”, Railways Public Relations Officer Anil Saxena told ANI.

A steadily rising number of families sought safety on the city’s Basion Bridge flyover, many of them slum-dwellers whose homes had been washed away. “We don’t have any milk”, she said, adding that she was searching for a shop selling food, “but I’m scared to walk down this road”.