Chennai Petroleum shuts 210000 bpd refinery due to flooding

He said all highways leading to Chennai were closed.

Chennai has a population of nearly 5 million, rising to about 9 million if its sprawling suburbs are included.

A spokesperson of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL), which runs a refinery at Chennai said that operations were being maintained by staff who had been able to stay back at the plant site but the situation was being monitored by the authorities, adding that a partial shutdown is a possibility.

VINEET KUMAR: The fact is that it has already happened, and it is already impacting our farmers in India.

Massive flooding following record levels of rainfall in Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India, is forcing thousands of people in the state capital of Chennai out of their homes.

Chennai will remain overcast with possibility of intermittent rains.

JAMES BENNETT: Chennai resident Prashant and 70 million who call the southern state of Tamil Nadu home have now endured several weeks of flooding like this. Weeks of torrential rains have forced the airport in the…

The flooding has cut off several sections of the East Coast Road, a major highway that connects Chennai to adjoining Pondicherry. Fishermen have been warned not to go to sea, Area Cyclone Warning Centre Director S R Ramanan told reporters.

“We don’t have any food”. The Airport Authority of India said the airport is likely to remain closed until Sunday.

No flight has taken off or landed at the Chennai airport since Tuesday evening, with water on the runway as the city remains flooded due to heavy rain. Social media networks carried many appeals for help, while others offered assistance.

Separately, news reports said that flood waters released from a lake on the outskirts of Chennai inundated more neighborhoods in the city.

The two rivers, Adyar and Cooum, are flowing in full spate.

No deaths were reported in the latest floods, but since heavy rain set in on November 12 there have been 150 deaths in Tamil Nadu.

The death toll in the rains that have lashed Chennai city and other parts of state has gone up to 197, officials said.

One local lawmaker urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to declare a national disaster so that more rescuers and relief would flow to the state. Water has entered the ground floor of the high rises some way off. The homeless have moved to higher ground, their meagre belongings wrapped in bundles, waiting for rescue and rehabilitation.

Many areas have been without power supply for the past two days which, in turn, has also affected water supplies and telecommunication facilities. All most of people have lost their lives due to rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu. Experts say the floods in the city are most directly linked to the El Nino weather pattern, when the waters of the Pacific Ocean get warmer than usual. “The extreme rainfall that Chennai is experiencing is a direct outcome of our ever-warming planet”, said Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General of Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).