Police and fire service personnel pitched in with relief work in co-ordination with other departments in several parts of the city, which were affected due to incessant rain ahead of Cyclone Nivar’s landfall.
City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal has inaugurated an exclusive control room which will function round the clock to help the public. Members of the public have been advised to contact 9498181239 for immediate assistance from the police. They can call this number or send an SMS alert or make a WhatsApp call in case of any emergency -- fallen trees, water stagnation, snapping of power line or disruption of power supply.
Senior police officers have been making spot visits wherever waterlogging was reported in the city from Tuesday. Trees were uprooted in Kilpauk, and a rescue team of the Kilpauk police and staff of Chennai Corporation removed them on Wednesday morning. Another tree which fell near New Avadi Road was also removed by them. Similar uprooting of trees was reported from Poonamallee High Road-Manapakkam junction, near the Chitalapakkam EB office, in front of Jayagopal Garodia School, Virugambakkam, near Choolaimedu Highway in Kodambakkam and at Kalikuppam junction in Arumbakkam. Police personnel in association with staff of Chennai Corporation removed the fallen trees and ensured free flow of traffic.
Police officers asked roadside dwellers who have been living on Stingers Road to move to a camp organised by the Greater Chennai Corporation in Vepery jurisdiction and also arranged food for them.
Meanwhile, the fire control room received more than 20 calls about fallen trees from several places in the city on Wednesday. M.S. Jaffar Sait, Director General of Police, Fire and Rescue Services said, “Police, Fires Service Personnel and the Revenue Department have been working in tandem. Our personnel are already stationed at flood-prone areas which have been identified based on previous experience. They are doing rescue work and removing trees which were uprooted in several parts of the city.”
Incidents of tree uprooting were also reported from Raj Bhavan, Secretariat, MGR Nagar, Tambaram, Vysarpadi, Mannurpet, Mylapore, Madley Road, Motilal Street, T. Nagar, Adambakkam, Avadi, Marina, Choolai, Velachery and other places.
