Almost 100 people stranded in rain-hit Chennai brought to Hyderabad

The life in Chennai has literally come to a standstill with broken transport connection, no supply of necessary commodities and much more.

Jayalalitha, who had a meeting with Modi, said over 4.1mn food packets were provided to people and those living in apartments in affected areas were given water bottles and food by helicopters and boats. But despite the skies clearing up, the water level has been rising in some areas owing to the periodic releases from the overflowing Chembarabakkam dam.

“I have directed that Rs. 1000 crore be released immediately by the Govt of India to Tamil Nadu for immediate relief”, he said in another tweet.

“The government will stand by the people of Tamil Nadu in their hour of need”, Modi told reporters, promising $150 million for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

More heavy rainfall is forecast for Chennai, one of India’s largest cities, where massive floods this week have inundated multi-lane highways, an airport runway, streets and homes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has blamed climate change for the deluge, traveled to Chennai to get a first-hand view of a rescue effort that has so far been halting.

Singh said 30 teams of the National Disaster Response Force and seven columns of the army were engaged in relief and rescue work. Several batches of stranded passengers have been taken to the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad from Chennai. During the day, parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the Centre was in touch with the state government and the Union home secretary was continuously monitoring the situation in the affected areas. But the electricity wires in a few areas have broken from the poles and fallen in the water.

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. Out team will be heading out aggressively to the areas where people are stranded, especially where waterlogging is causing major trouble. “Those with big vehicles are driving around rescuing people”, she said.

Factories for Hyundai, Ford and Renault had already reportedly been forced to halt operations as the waters rose.

“We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that our urban sprawls such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Srinagar and others have not paid adequate attention to the natural water bodies that exist in them”, said CSE Director General Sunita Narain.

Toner said so far the U.S. had not received any request for assistance from India.