Chennai: Spurred by ominous rain clouds and a Red Alert from the meteorological department, the city’s civic authorities rolled up their sleeves and gave final touches to a massive disaster response mechanism in all vulnerable neighbourhoods across the city on Monday.
As the next three days are crucial, about 400 high-power water pumps were installed, and 169 relief centres were kept ready across the city.While 10hp pumps will be kept on interior roads, the Koyambedu market campus has four 60hp pumps as officials apprehend flooding of the premises because major stormwater drains here have been blocked by the CMRL piers. Pumps of 100hp capacity will be at disposal points where runoff water enters the larger canal or water body.
A total of 15 IAS Officers have been positioned in the city’s 15 zones to act as a bridge between residents and officials. About 470 boats have been purchased as well as sourced from other districts, said officials, adding that 59 earthmovers, along with 270 tree-cutters, have also been kept ready. At least 13,000 resident-volunteers, ranging from college students to homemakers, have signed up for relief and rescue works.
Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru and HR&CE Minister PK Sekarbabu, accompanied by Chennai Mayor R Priya, inspected flood-prone locations in North Chennai.
So, what will qualify as ‘inundation’? Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said any water stagnation lingering beyond six hours will be treated as critical. “We monitor stagnation for 0-2 hours, 2-4 hours, and 4-6 hours. If stagnation exists for six hours, we send in motors and carry out water removal,” he said.
The GCC Helpline — 1913 — will work round-the-clock to receive and address complaints of waterlogging and other rain-related civic issues. This will double up as a rain havoc response platform along with the govt’s newly launched App – TN Alert.
On its part, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said it will increase the number of services from Oct 15 to 17. The metro will operate from 5am to 11pm, with increased frequencies during peak hours. Between 8am and 11am, and 5pm and 8pm, trains will run every five minutes on the Green Line, which connects Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount. On the Blue Line, which stretches from the Airport to Wimco Nagar Depot, trains will run every six minutes, and every three minutes between Washermenpet Metro and Arignar Anna Alandur Metro. Due to the expected heavy rains, CMRL has advised passengers not to park their vehicles at stations prone to water stagnation, such as St. Thomas Mount and Arumbakkam, during these three days.
The Tamil Nadu Commando School said it has trained 20,898 personnel on disaster management, including flood rescue, cyclone, and extreme heavy rainfall, and they are kept in a state of readiness.
As per the forecast, the city and the suburbs are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall for the next 48 hours. One or two places will experience thunderstorms and lightning. The skies may be generally cloudy while maximum and minimum temperatures may be around 27-28°C and 24-25°C.
The overnight rainfall left 2cm in many suburban areas like Tambaram, Redhills, and Ennore, while many core localities like Nandanam, Teynampet, and Kodambakkam received 5cm. The rain spells also caused a drop in day temperature on Monday, with Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recording 29°C and 28.8°C, around 3.9 and 4.1 degrees below normal. Many parts of the city recorded light spells in the evening hours.
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