With the city receiving around 100 mm of rainfall between 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday noon, the Greater Chennai Corporation has received 1,482 complaints from residents on Saturday about civic issues caused by rainfall. Inflow from Andhra Pradesh has also been increasing, leading to flooding in the northern parts of the city.
Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi conducted a meeting on Saturday and instructed officers to continue measures to reduce flooding in residential areas. Teams of officers led by Mr. Bedi visited flood-affected areas to monitor the progress of work to resolve issues reported by residents at 105 locations covering 384 streets.
“As of now we are monitoring both from the field as well as the control room. The 1913 helpline has 50 lines. People can speak to us on 50 lines. Of course, the number of messages is lower than what we got due to the November 10 rainfall. At the control room, we are monitoring the number of motors working: 820 motors are working at present. We are also monitoring the subways. Water is at present receding and we are keeping on the alert level, in case of heavy rain, as the water level should not rise again,” said Mr. Bedi.
The Commissioner inspected roads such as G. N. Chetty Road, which tends to become non-motorable during the rains. On Saturday, the road was motorable, as civic officials created an alternative way for draining of flood waters from Bazulla Road to Dr. Nair Road to the Mambalam Canal.
Of the 1,482 complaints received on helpline, 1,433 have been relating to water stagnation. As many as 820 pumps have been used to bale out water in residential areas.
A total of 19 subways are open for traffic. Rangarajam, Madley and Ganesapuram subways have been flooded. Work to bale out water is under way.
All 11 trees that were uprooted have been removed, restoring traffic. Six of the 91 relief centres have been occupied by 653 residents.
More than 16,000 residents participated in 557 medical camps in the vicinity of flood-affected areas.
