Tamil Nadu floods: No change since 2005

Though fingers of blame were pointed at the corporation for alleged ‘inadequate’ desilting work of the city’s waterways, officials, both retired and in service, are towing a similar line. “There is nothing that can be done when unusual rainfall like this happens. Only thing that can be done is to provide relief to affected people on war footing,” said retired bureaucrat Louis Menezes. But Chennaiites are not buying it. “The problem with the official stance that there was just too much rainfall is that it is a bit like saying I would not have been knocked over had there been no waves in the beach,” said R.S. Kumar, a resident of Kodambakkam.

The intensity with which dried river beds were concretised in the last decade, he said had contributed more to the damage than inadequate or blocked storm water drains. Interestingly, at a workshop held five years earlier, a PWD engineer had presented that one of the city’s key waterways, the Buckingham Canal, was incapable of discharging flood water.

Among other reasons, the engineer had noted how the 25 m wide ‘B Canal’, as it is referred to in official circles, was restricted to a width of merely 10 m due to the MRTS network and its pillars.

As “new problems”, the report also noted that the Chennai bypass, which connects Tambaram with Red Hills, interfered with drainage flowing east and was thus causing inundation in Anna Nagar, Porur, Vanagaram, Maduravoyal, Mugappair and Ambattur areas. Besides, elevated corridor projects reduced the flood carrying capacity of waterways, the report said.

According to residents, Sathyavanimuthu Nagar, Kamarajar Nagar and Ulaganathan Nagar were inundated for the last one week and no steps were taken drain the flood water. The residents said that their locality was inundated as stormwater drain in Thalangkuppam was blocked to prevent floodwater entering their area. “We have demanded the corporation officials to remove the block to drain flood water in our area. But they did not take any action. Hence we are resorting to road blockade,” the residents said.

Over 300 people took part in the protest. Meanwhile, residents of Manali New Town picketed Tiruvallur district collector K. Veera Raghava Rao protesting against lack of relief measures and for inspecting their localities. Following the protest, the district collector inspected flood damages in the area. Manali New Town and Sadayankuppam were affected by the flood after the Kosthalaiyar river bank breached following heavy outflow water from Poondi reservoir on Tuesday. Residents said that no flood alerts were given in their localities and hence people were taken by surprise when the water level suddenly went up. Residents of Nehru Nagar in Tondiarpet and Sidco Nagar in Villivakkam also resorted to protest.