Stepping up rescue and relief operations in the rain-hit city, a coordinated team of the defence forces and the NDRF on Thursday rescued over 270 stranded people, including a seven-month-pregnant woma
Stepping up rescue and relief operations in the rain-hit city, a coordinated team of the defence forces and the NDRF on Thursday rescued over 270 stranded people, including a seven-month-pregnant woman who was airlifted from one of the worst-affected areas.
“About 120 rescued people were flown to Delhi in a C-130J (Super Hercules) this morning, while another 100 were rescued from Meenambakam airport area. We have deployed all necessary assets and the only bottleneck in our efforts is the weather,” said Air Marshal S.R.K. Nair, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (training command).
Meanwhile, excessive discharge of water on Wednesday night from Chembarambakkam lake on the outskirts flooded new areas of the city threatening to uproot people from their homes. Though there has been no rain since last night, the fresh flooding of the streets in the heart of the city in areas like Kodambakkam and T. Nagar and Ashok Nagar has been caused by the release of an estimated 30,000 cusecs of water from the Chembarambakkam lake, one of city’s source of drinking water. The reservoir has been surplussing because of heavy inflow due to rains in the catchment area.
A group of 50 students from a private university, who had been left stranded in the city, were also brought to Tambaram air base from where they would be flown to Bengaluru or Delhi.
Air Marshal Nair is heading the rescue operations in the city and adjoining areas that have been battered by torrential rains.
“We are getting directions from the state government about the areas where rescue work needs to be carried out and then deploy forces accordingly. All the three forces (Army, Air Force and Navy) are working like a well-oiled machinery and the weather on Thursday has been much better with very little rain, so we carried out a lot of relief and rescue sorties,” he said at the Tambaram air base, about 30 km from here, on Thursday afternoon.
“Besides, the 120 sent in C-130, another 20 have been sent to Arakonnam, from where they will fly out in different aircraft,” a senior IAF official said.
With heavy rains lashing the Tamil Nadu state capital, especially in the last three days, several areas have become heavily inundated, with water reaching up till almost second storey in certain areas.
“We are fully prepared to tackle this situation and carrying out regular sorties. We performed several relief and recce sorties today, as we have to save those who are badly stranded as well as give food items to those who are stuck in their homes,” Air Commodore Rippon Gupta said.
Seven-month-pregnant woman Sukanya (29) was one of those rescued on Thursday, who along with her three-year-old child, was airlifted from her home in Medumbakkam near Guindy, one of the worst-affected areas in Chennai.
“We moved to the fourth floor of our house as the first and nearly the second floor has become inundated. There is no electricity in our area for the last two days. We had lost all hope until they rescued us today,” she told PTI.
“My husband will come after me and we are planning to go to Kanchipuram, where my parents are waiting,” she said.
Aerial recce and relief operations revealed a harrowing tale as airports, bridges, and housing colonies were seen submerged in 8-10 feet water. People hailed from rooftops for relief packets as IAF aircraft flew past them. “The Chennai airport is almost washed out, with flight operations still suspended. Runways and parking bays are flooded. A bridge near Saidapet area is completely overrun with water, cutting off areas and isolating people,” a pilot, who performed a relief-cum-recce operation, said.
10,000 evacuated in Puducherry After a 13-hour lull, heavy showers resumed on Thursday in Puducherry where large areas have been inundated and over 400 houses damaged due to torrential rains, forcing evacuation of thousands of people.
As many as 173 relief centres were operating in Puducherry and Karaikal region and more than 10,000 people were evacuated to safer places, commissioner for relief and secretary to the government V. Candavelou said.
All schools and colleges will remain closed till December 6, according to electricity minister T. Thiagarajan.
Lt. governor A.K. Singh on Thursday visited rain hit pockets while chief minister N. Rangasamy took stock of the situation in interior villages.
People of Puducherry had some short-lived relief when rains stopped last night. However, as the day advanced the Union Territory was again battered by heavy rains.
According to the weather forecast, Puducherry and Karaikal regions as well as Cuddalore district in neighbouring Tamil Nadu were likely to get very heavy rains during the next couple of days.
The Puducherry administration has intensified steps to manage the situation arising out of the torrential rains which was “unprecedented, serious and worst in last 100 years”, chief secretary Manoj Parida said at a press conference. He said that already two teams of National Disaster Relief Response had arrived at Puducherry and one of them had rushed to Karaikal, where very heavy rains are expected, to respond to any emergency situation.
