More rains coming as south India grapples with massive flood

He met the Chief Minister of the state, J. Jayalalitha and the governor of the state K. Roasaih and promised the monetary assistance to the beleaguered state, which was “over and above” the Rs. 940 crore which was released earlier.

The Indian military has evacuated more than 2,000 residents stranded in the southern state of Tamil Nadu as the death toll from flooding rose to 269 after the heaviest rain in over a century. Our sympathy is with them. This initiative by the CM and Deputy CM is being appreciated by the people of Bihar.

“People of India stay with people of Tamil Nadu in this hour of need”, he said after the survey in which he was accompanied by Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, who hails from Tamil Nadu.

These teams have been operating in areas which are the worst hit by the floods in the areas of Tambaram, Mudichur, Kothurpuram, Pallavaram, Thiruneermalai, Urapakkam, Manipakkam, T Nagar and Gudvancheri towards the outskirts of Chennai and also along areas adjacent to Adyar River.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi visited Chennai today to take stock of the situation arising due to the devastating floods.

Relief efforts were proving to be challenging as some roads have been washed away and telephone networks were down, home minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament on Thursday.

Jayalalitha, who had a meeting with Modi, said over 41.95 lakh food packets were provided to people and those living in apartments in affected areas were given water bottles and food by helicopters and boats.

In areas like Kotturpuram, where the waters have receded, residents are living in fear that another bout of water will be released from the dam later today. Most officials are forced to sit at home.

“Apart from heavy rain, strong squally winds will blowing 55 kilometer per hour would prevail over North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and South coastal Andhra Pradesh during next 24 hour”, the official said.

“Our top priority is to rescue marooned people on the first and second floors and getting them to safer, drier places”, he told AFP. The Southern Railway announced cancellation of all inter and intra-state train services till Saturday while the airport operations will remain suspended till Sunday.

Although the state received some respite from incessant rain on Thursday, weather forecasters have predicted more rain over the next 48 hours, prompting the army to speed up relief and rescue operations.

Power supply is yet to restored in many areas.

The Army is also rushing in additional nine rescue and relief teams with one medical team from Secunderabad and Hyderabad to Arakkonam by IAF’s C17 Globemaster for addressing any contingencies.