The residents of the city are unlikely to forget the first few days of December 2015. What started with overcast skies and rains, on December 1, turned out to be a nightmare, and heralded the floods that were arguably one of the worst in living memory. The rains, which lashed through the day, left in their wake a battered city with several areas that went under. Several lives were lost, thousands were displaced, stranded and had to be evacuated with boats and choppers, the loss of property ran to many crores of rupees, and normalcy was not restored until weeks later in many parts of the city.
The release of water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir, as well as what the government called “unprecedented rainfall not seen in a 100 years” completed the destruction.
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Nine months later, while many still remember the heroic rescue efforts which were mounted to bring the city back on its feet, the question on everyone’s mind is whether the city is prepared to face the northeast monsoon this year.
Given how even a few hours of rain over the past few days (spilling over from the southwest monsoon) have caused substantial flooding, any consideration of the monsoon months in Chennai only brings a sinking feeling. Over the last two weeks, the city has come alive on social media, raucously wondering how the spell of rain that the city has received has crippled it what it bodes for the coming months.
“A common concern among residents across various areas has been that not much action has been taken against encroachments on waterbodies and that more can be done towards their de-silting,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, founder of Arappor Iyakkam, a city-based organisation which had organised a public hearing ‘Kelu Chennai Kelu’ where residents came and voiced their views on flood preparedness, a week back.
The displacement caused by the rain saw residents along the banks of the Adyar river and the Cooum being relocated en-masse to slum board tenements in areas including Perumbakkam, Kannagi Nagar and Ezhil Nagar. For other residents, houses in low-lying areas became a cause for concern and solutions including raising the height of their houses have been much sought after.
Mr. Jayaram admitted that the flooding in December had affected the collective consciousness of more people than before which had made them aware of the fact that a few areas in the city were actually affected every year during the rains
“Even with light showers, the compounds of homes in some areas have been flooded due to the indiscriminate laying of roads and the increase in their height each time. Initially, after the floods in December, it seemed as if the government was seriously carrying out encroachment removal work on a war-footing, but nine months later, now, nothing concrete has happened,” said Sunil Jayaram, a resident of Chitlapakkam.
Activists point out that the coming months are going to be nerve-wracking for the residents of the city. With several improvement works incomplete or having just begun, there is reasonable apprehension that even a ‘normal’ monsoon will spell flooded roads and homes. They also add that the efforts should be long-term, and at a policy level consider adequate drainage for the city while sanctioning layouts and residential establishments, and completely disallow construction activity on flood plains, rain water channels, and river beds.
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