Life comes to grinding halt in Chennai; Army, Navy rescue stranded people
Chennai: Life on Wednesday came to a grinding halt in Chennai and its suburbs following the unprecedented deluge, with scores of stranded citizens making their way through waist-deep water with all modes of transport and communication falling prey to the rain fury.
While the Army and Air Force were involved in rescue work and distribution of food packets at suburban Tambaram and Oorapakkam, ships of the Navy and Coast Guard were on standby, officials said.
Expert Naval divers and inflatable boats were deployed at Adyar and Kotturpuram areas to help marooned citizens. Alok Bhatnagar, Naval officer in charge, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, said ships, INS Airawat and other amphibian vessels would arrive here tonight. The Navy was also ready with medical supplies, he said.
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Seven boats had already been deployed for rescue work, while shelters were ready to accommodate 200 people. Though a let-up early morning gave hope for residents and rescue agencies, rain water showed little signs of receding even as the Adyar river continued to swell following discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam reservoir as well as yesterday's torrential downpour.
Discharge from the reservoir touched 35,000 cusecs. In a worrying development, water was gushing over the Thiru Vi Ka Bridge at the busy Saidapet junction, prompting officials to close the key facility as water nearly touched the nearby railway track between Guindy and Saidapet stations.
Left with no option to proceed to their destinations, many people were seen walking on the railway track even as water was rushing below with brute force. All kinds of public transport took a hit, with buses stopping mid-way and Railways cancelling both suburban and other inter and intra-state services through the day even as the airport continued to remain closed.
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Phone network -- both mobile and fixed lines -- were out of service even as ATMs did not function. Even in the few ATMs that were open, serpentine queues were witnessed and people stocked up on supplies in the wake of more rains being forecast for the coming days.
In many areas, authorities cut-off electricity supply since last evening as a precautionary measure. In some places, power was restored for a brief time even as complaints poured in at various Electricity Board offices.
Motorists and other road-users had a harrowing time commuting to respective destinations as inundated roads posed a great challenge to their driving skills. However, the crisis also brought people of different hues together, with social media coming in handy.
On social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, people offered to provide food and shelter to affected persons.
Young volunteers were seen manning flooded roads, alerting motorists of potholes and lent a helping hand to push vehicles that broke down under the impact of the rain water.
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In many areas, policemen were seen advising residents about safer zones even as police personnel, many of whom were drenched, cleared traffic and stood near potholes, directing road-users to safer spots.
Scores of Chennaiites also thronged bridges built over Adyar river at Saidapet and Kotturpuram, to watch it in spate. However, policemen did not allow them too close to the gushing water.
The private sector also came to a near standstill. Many offices were closed while some managements, especially those in the IT sector, advised their employees to work from home or give work a miss in case they could not.
The situation at neighbouring Tambaram and Mudichur areas, coming under Kancheepuram district limit, was worse as stranded residents were being rescued with the help of boats.
Many areas were left inundated and police restricted movement of people. Even some buses and lorries were seen stuck in water, as traffic moved at a snail's pace.
With heavy rains in Chennai leaving tracks inundated, Southern Railways on Wednesday cancelled at least four trains between the Tamil Nadu state capital and Kerala.
The Chennai-Egmore-Thiruvananthapuram Ananthapuri Express and Chennai Egmore-Guruvayoor Express and their pairing trains have been cancelled, the railways said in a release.
Meanwhile, the Kanyakumari-Bangalore Express, which was scheduled to leave Kanyakumari at 12.10 hours on Wednesday, has been rescheduled to start at 1600 hours today as the pairing train is running late, the release added.
Meanwhile, the railways announced helpline numbers in the wake of cancellation of trains. The number at Madurai junction was 0452-2308250, while it would be 044-25330714 at Chennai Central and 044-28190216 at Chennai Egmore.
