With help pouring in from various sources, Chennai still has a long way to go to get back to its feet. The airport has started operations from today while special trains are plying from the capital city to various other locations.
With relief operations underway and water levels receding , >here are some basic precautions that you can take before re-entering your flood-hit homes.
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8:50 p.m.: DMK chief blames Tamil Nadu government for “delayed” relief measures. >Read more
8:10 p.m.: The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday said 14,32,924 people rescued from flood affected areas are housed in relief camps.Four districts in Tamil Nadu — Chennai, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur and Cuddalore — have been badly affected by floods due to heavy rains for the past one month. The disaster has claimed around 325 lives.
8:00 p.m.: All banks were open today for customers in the flood-hit districts of Tamil Nadu to ensure that people have adequate cash to purchase essential things to bring back normalcy in their lives. The Reserve Bank also ensured that the banks were conducting their cash-based transactions in a smooth manner and also supported the cash availability for the lenders from the currency chest.
7:50 p.m.: The rain water level may be receding in the city bringing relief to people but it is leaving a huge trail of mess, prompting the Chennai Municipal Corporation to launch a mass cleanliness drive for all its 200 wards on Sunday, for which some of the civic bodies from the neighbouring districts have also lend a helping hand to. The civic body, headquartered at the iconic Ripon Building, has been working day in and day out since the torrential rains pounded the capital, to drain out water and clear clogged sewerage.
7:25 p.m. : Defence forces have called off aerial sorties for rescue operations in flood-hit Chennai which is limping back to normalcy as water levels have started going down. “The water level in the city has gone down considerably after initial days of flooding. Since last evening all aerial rescue and relief operations have been called off. There are no further communications from either Tamil Nadu government or Centre to carry them out as the city is slowly returning to normalcy,” a top IAF official told PTI on Sunday.
7:02 p.m.: All domestic and international flight operations, both day and night, to resume from Chennai airport tomorrow morning: AAI. >Read more
6:58 p.m.: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit flood-affected parts of Chennai this week. Sources in the party said that Gandhi is likely to visit there on December 8. The flood-ravaged city was struggling to return to normalcy with partial restoration of telecommunication and train services, besides many roads also becoming fairly motorable even as water logging woes continued in several areas.
6:48 p.m.:
Trains cancelled. >#Verified . >#ChennaiRainsHelp>pic.twitter.com/hj2529VVgF
— Ramya Kannan (@ramyakannan) >December 6, 2015
6:02 p.m.: Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have played a crucial role in spreading messages to help marooned citizens in flood ravaged Chennai, with many offering voluntary services and establishing contact with loved ones through these medium. Though several areas were inundated in last week’s heavy rains, people still managed to post messages seeking help or sharing information about those ready to offer help.
5:46 p.m.: With rain-ravaged Chennai limping back to normal, the railway traffic on the Vijayawada-Chennai section has been restored and trains are running as per schedule, a senior Railway official said.
5:45 p.m.: After remaining at loggerheads with the government over ban on Maggi noodles, Nestle India was on Sunday listed among the top suppliers of food and beverage products for people affected by heavy rains in Chennai. Among other products, Nestle has also supplied the ’two-minute’ Maggi noodles to the Tamil Nadu government towards the relief operations.
5:10 pm: All the trains in Chennai will resume operations from tomorrow, said GM of Southern Railways, Vashishta Johri.
4.35 p.m.: The ongoing relief work here has been shadowed by charges in social media that AIADMK workers were nudging NGOs to paste stickers of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on relief material, a claim dismissed by the ruling party as “false”. >Read more
4.15 p.m.: Ramakrishna Math has undertaken relief work across Chennai, distributing food and clothes to the needy. Volunteers of the math, located in Mylapore, a low lying area, have served hot cooked food to 1,500 people in Ganeshapuram area and 500 in Mint area.
IANS reports that the volunteers also distributed 150 blankets, milk powder and water packets, Sri Ramakrishna Math said.
3.55 p.m.: 81 pc retail outlets operating in Chennai: IOCL: In a huge relief to harried residents of flood-hit Chennai, which has suffered a shortage of fuel in many areas, state-run Indian Oil Corporation on Sunday said 81 per cent of its retail outlets are functional and work was on in full swing to make waterlogged outlets fully operational.
2.05 p.m.: Prominent names from southern film industry like Rana Daggubati, Dhanush, Allari Naresh and Siddharth have joined hands to help the people of flood-hit Tamil Nadu. >Read more
1.45 p.m.: In view of difficulties faced by people of flood-hit Chennai, many financial institutions, including DHFL, have decided not to impose any penalty on the city’s customers for delay in EMI payments. >Read more
Area-wise updates as of 1.35 pm:
Area | Status |
West Mambalam | Rains have stopped |
Porur | Rains have stopped, MTC buses running |
Anna Nagar, Adyar | The sun is visible |
Chindadripet | Continuous rain |
1.25 pm: Train services resume from Chennai Central from this morning. Watch the video here:
1:10 pm: Due to heavy rain, Collector of Chennai announced one day holiday (07.12.2015) for schools and colleges in Chennai District
12.40 pm: For Tamil Nadu the weather update from IMD is as follows
Isolated heavy rain would occur over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry today and tomorrow
12.30 pm: In view of difficulties faced by people of flood-hit Chennai, many financial institutions, including DHFL, have decided not to impose any penalty on the city’s customers for delay in EMI payments. SBI has announced waiving off penalty for late payment or no payment of EMI for November and December for home, car and and personal loans.
12.15 pm: Weather forecast for Chennai city and neighbourhood as per IMD:
FOR NEXT 24 HOURS: The sky condition would be generally cloudy. A few spells of rain or thundershowers would occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around 29 and 24 deg Celsius respectively.
FOR NEXT 48 HOURS: The sky condition would be generally cloudy. Rain or thundershowers may occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperature would be around 30 and 24 deg Celsius respectively.
11.45 am: Southern Railway today announced cancellation of three trains due to operational reasons. Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Central mail scheduled to leave Thiruvananthapuram today is cancelled, Southrern Railway said here today in a press release. Similarly, the Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Egmore Ananthapuri express scheduled to leave Thiruvananthapuram today is cancelled. Also, the Alappuzha-Chennai Central express scheduled to leave Alappuzha today is also cancelled.
Area-wise updates as of 12 noon:
Area | Status |
Porur | Continuous rain since 9 am today |
Mount Road | Heavy rains, Inundated near Hyatt |
Kodambakkam | Moderate rainfall reported |
Royapettah | Rains reported |
Adambakkam, St. Thomas Mount | Heavy rains. Saraswathi Nagar, Bhuvaneswari Nagar, Andal Nagar, Mahalakshmi Nagar: Water almost drained. Power restored |
Adyar | Rains but not torrential |
Tambaram | Rains have stopped. Bad roads pose safety risks |
Sriperumbudur | Heavy rains |
West Mambalam | Power supply back in Brindavan Street Extension. |
Velachery | Water receeded. |
Courtesy: ChennaiRains.org
11.20 am: Seventy-two years after it was first produced, the 1943 Ford GPA Amphibious Seep, which helped put thousands of Allied troops on the Normandy beach during World War II, came to the rescue of Chennai residents when a business man used the vehicle for extensive relief work. >Read more
11:00 am: Day time commerical flights from Chennai began today with the first Air India flight to Port Blair taking off this morning. An Air India flight from Delhi is expected to land at 1:30 PM. This is the first service after operations were stopped in the wake of rains. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had decided to shut the airport till today in the wake of battering rains that left the facility unusable. AI fligts to Hyderabad and Delhi are also scheduled to operate today.
Jet Airways will resume partial flight operations to Chennai today. Flight 9W 2352 on ATR aircraft will depart from Bengaluru at 17: 10 hrs and arrive in Chennai at 18:05 hrs. On the return leg, flight 9W 2757 will depart from Chennai at 18: 40 hrs and arrive in Bengaluru at 19: 50 hrs. Due to infrastructure constraints at Chennai airport only hand baggage will be allowed on flight 9W2757 departing Chennai.
10:40 am: Two more Indian Navy Ships (INS), Shakthi and Sahyadri, arrived at the Chennai port from the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The ships brought 100 tonnes of relief materials, including seven lakh litres of bottled water, for distribution to affected persons in marooned areas in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.
10:30 am: How Loyola College came to the rescue of hundreds of those hit by the floods. >Read more
10: 15 am: Some good news! Certificates lost in floods will be replaced. >Read more..
9: 30 am: Heavy rain resumes in Chennai airport area.
9:15 am: Downpour reported in many parts of Chennai.
Area | Time | Situation |
Sriperumbudur | 9:50 am | Heavy rain |
Avadi | 9:50 am | Heavy rain |
Thirumullaivayal | 9:40 am | Heavy rain |
Velachery | 9:30 am | Roads motorable, power restored |
Nanganallur | 9:20 am | Heavy rain |
Perungudi | 9:20 am | Heavy rain |
Saligramam | 9:20 am | Heavy rain |
9: am:Chennai Airport Operations:
Chennai Airport operations to start at 10 a.m. First to depart will be an Air India flight from Chennai to Port Blair
Two Air India flights will depart from Chennai for Delhi around 2:30 p.m. and to Hyderabad around 3:30 p.m
A list of areas which have reporter heavy inundation to the Chennai Coporation as of 8 p.m. on Saturday
