Rain recedes in Chennai, NDRF steps up rescue and relief operations

While the rain let up in Chennai on Thursday, water released by overflowing bodies of water – including lakes, reservoirs and dams – flooded low-lying areas in some parts of the coastal city.

It’s a pattern that’s been repeated for at least a decade.

The rain is expected to continue in the coming days.

The city had another period of serious flooding in mid-November during the October-December wet season.

This year’s deluge – which experts linked to the El Nino weather pattern, when the waters of the Pacific Ocean get warmer than usual – caught Chennai, with a population of 9.6 million, completely unprepared.

Chennai: Water levels began receding as Chennai counted one more day of no rains on Friday morning, easing the flood situation.

The government has set up 97 relief camps, which are now providing food and shelter to an estimated 62,000 people.

Houses are submerged in floodwaters in Chennai. Air India and other airlines will operate a total of seven flights today and six tomorrow to fly out the remaining stranded passengers.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius on Thursday said unprecedented magnitude of the Chennai flooding confirms that time is running out and “concrete and urgent” action needs to be taken against climate disruption. Poor phone networks were hampering rescue efforts, while washed-out bridges were slowing delivery of relief supplies, National Disaster Management Authority senior official Anurag Gupta told AFP.

Communication has been hard, especially for people overseas that are anxious about their family and friends at home.

The city received more than 330 millimeters (13 inches) of rain over 24 hours, significantly higher than the average for the entire month of December.

People use an empty water tank for flotation as they wade through floodwaters in Chennai.

Forty percent of the area’s telephone lines were knocked down by floods and power connections had to be disconnected for safety reasons, the minister said. “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”.

After a few days, finally, the Chennai residents felt the sunshine yesterday and a small break from the rain, is being considered as the greatest relief by the public.