For the people of Chennai, who battled hard to come out of the impact of coronavirus pandemic, the fear psychosis of 2015 deluge has returned. On Wednesday, as Cyclone Nivar turned into a severe cyclonic storm and caused intense rains, most parts of the city, including South and North Chennai, got inundated in water.
While Nivar is set to make a landfall on Wednesday late in the night between Mamallapuram and Karaikal near Puducherry, Chennai has received heavy to very heavy rains which are expected to further intensify in the next few hours. The city has received an average rainfall of over 127 millimeters since Tuesday. According to the meteorological department, Chennai would receive another 100 millimeters of rainfall over the next few hours till the cyclone makes a landfall.
Meanwhile, authorities have started releasing excess water from the Chembarambakkam Lake into the Adyar river. The water release from the lake has been increased from 1,000 cusecs on Wednesday afternoon to 5,000 cusecs in the evening. The Adyar river has started swelling since afternoon and people living in areas like Jhafferkhanpet, Kotturpuram and other low lying areas have been moved to safer places by the city corporation.
The announcement by the Public Works Department to release excess water from the Chembarambakkam Lake early on Wednesday brought back the frightening memories of the 2015 flash floods. It was in December 2015, when Jayalalithaa was the chief minister, the authorities at the PWD were waiting for her orders to open the sluice gates of the lake. However, her follower and present Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, in a move to quell the growing fear among Chennaiites, on Wednesday morning set out all the way to Chembarambakkam to supervise the situation. Palaniswami’s effort to erase the old memories of the people earned him more brownie points, with elections round the corner in the state.
Despite all the efforts by the administration, including special teams for rescue work, deployment of NDRF and special camps for people who live in low lying areas, the city doesn’t seem to have learnt lessons from the 2015 floods. A report submitted by the Parliamentary committee in 2015 pointed out at drainage congestion, encroachment in lakes and river channels and water release from the Chembarambakkam Lake as the reasons for the flood. And five years down the line now, the city corporation is still fighting to get rid of the clogged drains and encroachments.
On Wednesday, most parts of the city including Velacherry, OMR, Tambaram, Mudichur, Kundrathur and others are inundated in water.
