The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Marooned residents struggle to keep water at bay, spend sleepless nights

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Marooned residents struggle to keep water at bay, spend sleepless nights

City Bureau

While some took boats to safer places, others had to cope with sewage-mixed water

Photo: R. Ragu

Unprecedented ordeal: The entire stretch of 100 Feet Road near Vadapalani was inundated on Friday. . —

CHENNAI: Roads in the city turned into temporary waterways and boats served as lifelines for hundreds of people, including many senior citizens, women and children, who had a sleepless night on Thursday and found themselves marooned on Friday morning.

With water entering many houses, such as those in west Velachery, the first thing that many residents looked out for was the boat that could take them to a safer location.

Various low-lying areas were inundated. Five persons died in rain-related incidents across the city on Friday. Nagappan (35) of Thoraipakkam was electrocuted when he came in contact with a live wire in his house and died instantly, police sources said.

Anitha (35) of Vadapalani died when she attempted to cross the water logged road near her house. She fell into the stagnant water and drowned. An unidentified man aged around 45 years was reported drowned while wading through waist-deep water near Virugambakkam.

Police sources said two unidentified bodies, one each in Thiruvanmiyur and Pattinapakkam, were found. Purushottaman (25) of R.K. Puram was reportedly washed away near Chinnandimadam.

Several people in the Velachery, Koyambedu, Virugambakkam and Porur belt were forced to remain indoors for the second consecutive day.

Worst-hit

The areas already under deluge following heavy showers for the past few days were the worst-hit, as surplus water from the Porur lake led to flooding of various areas located downstream and in the neighbourhood, including Manapakkam, West Mambalam, Nesapakkam, Arumbakkam and Valasaravakkam.

“Water entered our houses at 3 a.m. and most residents like me had to vacate their houses and move to safer places,” said R.Seshadri, a resident of Bharatidasan Colony of KK Nagar.

Some of the residents in K.K.Nagar were unable to come out of their houses as water was more than six feet in depth.

Many residents of Shastri Nagar, Vadapalani and Velachery were reluctant to leave their houses even though their localities were inundated by sewage mixed water as they feared theft of their valuables. “Water-borne diseases may affect the neighbourhood if the situation continues to persist,” said P.Saravanan, a resident.

Rice sacks submerged

The residents of Vadapalani stressed the need for emergency lights to help the people in the absence of power supply. K. Ashok, who owns a rice godown in MMDA colony, Arumbakkam, said rice sacks stocked in the godown on 100-ft road, was submerged in 5 ft of water.

Senior citizen V. Raman, a resident of North Mada Street, Saidapet, said: “About 200 families in Rangarajapuram are marooned. Houses in the Satya Nagar slum, located on the banks of Adyar River, were submerged on Tuesday and the residents evacuated. We are now seeing reverse flow of water in toilets and are worried that rainwater might enter our homes.”

G.N.Peetambaram, who is on a short visit to Chennai from Kerala said, “Water entered the house I am staying in Chinmaya Nagar, Virugambakkam, on Thursday. This morning, I found that all my belongings on the ground floor were under water and the level had reached waist-high.

As cab drivers were not willing to pick up people and since no other transport facility was available, I had to take the help of volunteers who transported us a few blocks away in an inflated boat.”

Several water-logged areas in the city did not have access to essential services, such as milk and power supply. A few residents said they managed to feed children with powder milk.

Power cuts

Many areas, including Kilpauk, Koyambedu, Thoraipakkam, Semmenchery, Kolathur, Velachery and Ambattur complained of intermittent power supply and power fluctuations.

Landline telephone connections were affected. Over 15,000 lines attached to Purasawalkam, Velachery and Choolaimedu exchanges did not function as the exchanges were shut as a preventive measure in view of water logging. Landlines were affected in Chinna Kancheepuram and in Gandhi Nagar, a western suburb, following roads cuts to facilitate the stagnant water to drain.

C.R.Sekar, a resident of MMDA Colony, said most of the streets in the area had chest-high water. “We feel cut off from other parts of the city as we do not have access to newspapers. There is no power supply for the past three days. We have to manage with available provisions and vegetables at home.”

S.Anandhi, a resident of Collectorate Colony, located off Nelson Manickam Road, said, “We cannot step out of our houses as the roads are covered by sheets of water. Though the officials concerned assure us to take steps to restore power supply and pump out water, no action has been initiated yet.”

Responding to the complaints, a representative of Aavin said the Ambattur dairy, was heavily inundated. Though the dairy operated till Thursday night, only 50 per cent of the usual supply was despatched to the areas. The operation of Ambattur dairy has been suspended on Friday,” the official said.

Milk supply would be resumed from the other two dairies in Sholinganallur and Madhavaram on Saturday, he said.

Traffic flow between Medavakkam and Velachery was disrupted as water from the Pallikaranai marsh and Narayanapuram Lake overflowed and submerged the Velachery-Tambaram High Road.

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