The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Velachery, its neighbourhood reel under massive inundation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 04, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Velachery, its neighbourhood reel under massive inundation

T. Ramakrishnan and N. Ravikumar

The western part of the area bears the brunt; residents in ground floor apartments move to safer places Velachery Main road turned a massive "reservoir" overnight. Water was pumped out of apartments and factories.

T. Ramakrishnan and

N. Ravikumar

CHENNAI: Whenever rain lashes Chennai, Velachery hits the headlines. For the wrong reasons. This fast developing locality and its neighbourhood reel under massive inundation.

Usually, the western part of Velachery bears the brunt more than the east part, which has a better drainage system.

The situation was no different this time too during Friday night's rain.

Starting from the Halda junction on Anna Salai, Velachery Main road turned a massive "reservoir" overnight. The traffic jam at about 11 p.m. on Friday at this junction made people wonder whether they were crossing the point during morning/evening peak hours.

The flooding of the Velachery main road got confounded with many apartments and a couple of factories pumping out water from their premises. Water gushed out of the IIT compound, near the Velachery gate.

The inundation of ground floor of several multi-storeyed apartments on 1.9 km long Velachery Byepass gave an indication of the problem that drove out people from their homes in western parts of the locality.

Around 8-30 a.m. on Saturday, people gathered in large numbers on the main road and witnessed flood water gushing down the Velachery drainage that begins from the lake.

Despite the flood situation being grim in their colonies, many office-goers did not want to skip work and waited anxiously at the Velachery bus terminus.

Adyar in spate

Though there was no rain throughout the day, the Adyar river going in full spate gave some residents jitters as any overflow would virtually isolate Velachery and surrounding areas from the rest of the city.

But, the news that the release of flood flows from the Chembarmpakkam tank has been reduced provided them the relief.

Water levels rose alarmingly in western Velachery including AGs Staff Colony, MGR Nagar, Venkateswara Nagar and Devi Karumariamman Nagar.

In many of the households the residents woke up, after a horrifying night battling mosquitoes without electricity, to find rain water entering their homes.

Bringing back memories of the heavy rain that wreaked havoc in the areas in 2001, the rain saw the water covering vacant plots and roads making it difficult to even walk.

Waist-high water

Scared by waist-high water on the roads, they got further frightened after seeing snakes and other insects in the water. In many apartment complexes, where rain water entered the ground floor, residents were seen shifting to safer destinations.

For many households, rain water mixed with sewage.

What, however, agitated the residents most were the inaction and lack of any action plan of the civic authorities.

Many residents in AGs Staff Colony said the Chennai Corporation had enough time to take remedial action after the rain that lashed a couple of days ago. They also questioned the logic of the civic body in filling up a portion of the road outside the Alacrity complex in the area with rubble as that only added to the problems of motorists.

"We were able to negotiate the potholes, but after the rubble comprising mud and large stones was dumped half the road could not be used," a resident of the areas said.

They were also sore at the apathy of the power supply service. "The phone receiver at the EB office seems to be taken off the hook the moment the power supply is snapped making it difficult for the customers to seek any clarifications," another resident complained. .

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