With heavy rain forecast, next 48 hours critical for Chennai

The weather department has warned of heavy rains in Chennai and northern Tamil Nadu over the next three days.

NTL India, a conventional call taxi provider, has introduced 15 boats with trained rescue emergency team in several parts of the city.

Chennai has experienced rainfall that was 89% more than normal.

No deaths were reported in the latest floods, but since heavy rain set in on 12 November there have been 150 deaths across the state. As there has been heavy downpour during the last 48 hours, Chennai suburban areas like Tambaram and Chembarambakkam received the highest rainfall of 49cms and 47 cms respectively, he said.

Recently back from the United Nations climate change conference in Paris, Mr Modi had earlier blamed its affects for the unseasonal rains and floods in the southern state.

Rathore said Chennai’s airport was in a low-lying area so it would be hard to resume flights till the rains stopped and the water was drained from the runways.

The state has deployed personnel of the State Disaster Response Force the Fire and Rescue Service personnel Coastal Security Group in all the affected places. Helicopters and drones stationed on ships near the Chennai coast were on standby. It said an already hard pressed administration and Indian Army shouldn’t be distracted from the task at hand of rescuing stranded people.

Mr Modi, who had spoken to Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday night and promised all assistance, held discussions with his Cabinet colleagues Rajnath Singh (home), Arun Jaitley (finance) and M. Venkaiah Naidu (parliamentary affairs) on Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of thousands of people in southern India have been forced to evacuate their homes after weeks of heavy flooding which has left almost 200 people dead.

Television footage showed people wading through chest-deep water and the infirm being carried shoulder-high on makeshift stretchers.

Citra Devi said more than 1,000 Malaysian students in the city and other parts had been affected by the floods, adding that the office had set up a flood crisis centre to assist them.