The city came to a grinding halt after a week of heavy rains. While the rains were expected the severity seemed to be completely underestimated by the Regional Met Department and the state. One thing that most people Chennai are complaining about is how the state wasn’t prepared enough for the calamity. Hundreds of people had to be rescued by boats and food supplies needed to be arranged as water-logging brought lives to a standstill and trapped people in their homes.Chennai was set to receive the highest rainfall ever in 10 years and the Director the Regional Met Department, Ramanan was on TV practically everyday over the last ten days talking about what we could expect.
But was the Chennai Corporation really prepared? The failure off storm water drains and de-silting projects caused water-logging. The heavy rains saw water-logging in major areas of the city like Koyambedu, Anna Nagar, Mogappair T Nagar, Nungambakkam and Chetpet. There was knee-high rainwater and the flooded streets forced residents to stay indoors. Others had to be rescued as water entered their homes.
Before the monsoons began the Chennai Corporation stated that more than 6200 metric tonnes of silt had been taken out from a 1860 km long storm water drain network. 43 super suckers, 60 jet rodding machines and 150 desilting machines had been used and they had assured that Chennai would not sink but it did.
The question being asked by many people was what happened to the ambitious multi-crore storm water drain and desilting projects. When the rains came pouring down, none of this ‘preparation’ was evident from the clogged roads.
According to The New Indian Express, a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) engineer wrote a letter in July 2014 to his boss talking about how a a multi-crore storm water drain project was executed in Koyambedu by his superiors without using concrete reinforcements or cement but quarry dust. Did improper execution and use of poor quality material by the CMDA cause the water-logging issues in the city? Who were the desilting projects given out to? However, Chennai Corporation Storm Water Department officials blamed the intensity of the rains for the water-logging in the city.
Boats to the rescue
The flooding in the city came to the point where the Army, Air Force, Fire and Safety Personnel and National Disaster Relief Force worked with the police and Chennai Corporation to rescue people. Boats had to be brought in to bring in people to safety from stranded areas but again, the Chennai Corporation didn’t prepare for this contingency.
Transportation service provider Ola decided to launch a boat service for people who needed to be rescued from partially submerged areas. Tying up with the Fire and Rescue Department of Tamil Nadu, the company decided to provide these services free of cost along with water and food in certain areas. While many people may think this was a smart-branding exercise by the company, it was much-needed in Chennai at this time.
The Fisheries Department helped out by giving their boats for use as well. In places were mechanised boats could not be used due to debris and waste, the rubber boats were used to rescue people and supply food.
Again, here too residents of the city, like fishermen and others, stepped in. Some fishermen from the Kovalam area brought their boats and helped get people to safety in the OMR area.
People from the Covelong Point Social Surfing School for instance went to Perumbakkam and Sholinganallur on Tuesday when they heard that some people were trapped in buildings. A report in The Hindu states that Murthy of the surfing school said that there was dirty water everywhere with snakes in the water as well. Five of them eventually rescued around 300 people (using three fishing boats and two kayaks) who were stuck with no food and electricity.
Lack of food supplies
With rain water getting into the homes of many people in the slums and low-lying areas in the city, they had to be relocated to temporary shelters. However, the city didn’t seem to have planned for proper relief measures for them in terms of food and clothing. While the state was quick to set up 98 medical camps across the city, food supplies were missing for those who were stranded because of water-logging. Many volunteers and NGOs in the city came to the people’s rescue and helped the Chennai Corporation.
Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur has stated that 3.88 lakh food packets had been distributed by them on Tuesday. While the state’s Amma Canteens were supplying food packets, the quantity of food that needed to be handed out to those in need was severely underestimated.
Many organisations like the Arunodayam Trust clearly stated that they didn’t need money but wanted people to help with food provisions as a lot of people in the slums didn’t have food to eat. In fact, over the weekend the Arunodayam Trust fed over 700 people in the Kolathur area. Similarly, individuals across the city took to collecting food and distributed them in affected areas in the city.
