In December 2015, S. Satish, an electrician by profession, sent his family, which includes two children, to a relative’s house in Egmore. He stayed back at their flood-ravaged one-storey house in Periyar Nagar, Thirunindravur (near Avadi). He hurriedly turned a small room on the terrace into a storage unit, bunging in all household items. He lived in this now-cramped room, for the rest of the house was under water.
If that was any consolation, Satish’s house was one of around 2,500 single-storey houses in Thirunindravur that were almost entirely submerged in the flood waters. However, unlike residents of most of these houses, Satish stayed put in Thirunindravur.
Even after the flood waters had receded, Thirunindravur remained a ghost town for many months. Its residents had deserted their decades-old houses and migrated to the city and also to neighbouring districts, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, in search of safe housing. In hindsight, this seems to be an extreme and gratuitous response.
Prompt response
For, a few months after the floods, Thirunindravur began to witness changes aimed at preventing flooding in the future.
The Tiruvallur district administration, along with the Thirunindravur town panchayat, started constructing a stone-wall along the Thirunindravur lake and in the process removed encroachments, mainly houses, along the waterbody.
It was, of course, a flood-control measure. It was also a move on the part of the district administration to restore Thirunindravur residents’ trust in them, and encourage them to stay in the neighbourhood during natural calamities.
“Two years ago, we never believed that we would be able to return to our houses after the floods. Now, things have improved. Better facilities that are now available to drain excess rainwater is a relief,” says K. Marimuthu, a resident of Thirunindravur.
Improving infrastructure
Other post-flood measures taken by the administration include repairing three-feet-wide field channels that drain excess rainwater from the lake to the farmlands in the neighbourhood; and constructing wide drains to connect the lake with the Coovum river and discharge excess rainwater once the lake reaches its maximum capacity.
“The Thirunindravur tank is of immense help to farmers here. Farming in the primary occupation here,” says T.V. Ravi, former Chairman, Thirunindravur Town Panchayat. “We have to protect the lake as well as the residents from inundation. For this, the permanent solution is deepening the lake and strengthening the bund.”
Earlier, of the six sluice gates at the lake, only two were functional. The defunct sluice gates have now been repaired.
Additionally, stormwater drains on the stretches in the town have been widened and connected to the lake.
