Tamil Nadu rain: People were seen wading through ankle deep water to reach places
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Chennai and several suburbs in Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts have witnessed intermittent rain since Saturday morning. The non-stop rain through Saturday night was particularly bad, turning out to be the heaviest in recent years after the 2015 floods leading to water-logging everywhere, with the deluge entering houses in low lying areas.
The weather office has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall today in 14 Tamil Nadu districts, including Chennai, Vellore, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, among others.
The Chennai Corporation has set up pump sets in 500 locations to remove the logged water. Further, 1,00,000 food packets were also distributed for breakfast. Relief camps providing food, shelter and medical care have been opened in the city.
"Water is receding fast as we had desilted storm water drains. The 21 cm rain is a challenge and the the drain got exhausted," said Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi to NDTV.
Chief Minister MK Stalin, dressed in a raincoat, was seen distributing relief material. Mr Stalin has announced a two-day holiday for schools in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpet and Kancheepuram districts due to heavy rainfall. He would review situation at 8 locations today and distribute relief to affected people.
Since the start of the Northeast monsoon in October, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry regions have experienced about 43 per cent excess rainfall, a weather official said.
People were seen wading through ankle deep water to reach nearby shops to buy essential commodities. Relatively low level bridges, known as ''tharaipaalam'' in Tamil, were submerged in several suburban areas.
Upon request from the state government, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed four teams to assist in rescue operations.
With the lakes around Chennai swelling, water is being released from the Chembarambakkam lake. The 85.4 feet-high lake now has water till 82.35 feet. In 2015, Chennai was flooded due to sudden excessive discharge from Chembarambakkam lake amid heavy rainfall.
Authorities say this time on ground officials have been empowered to take local decisions to ensure gradual release of water and avert sudden heavy discharge like the one in 2015 which flooded 4 lakh homes.
