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THE TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAI TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015

CITY UNDER WATER It would take only 10 minutes to reach Chamiers Road from Kutcheri Road. But I was stuck on TTK Road for close to an hour. I have never seen such a jam

CHENNAI RAINFALL (in cm) Last five years (northeast monsoon)

75

(in cm)

44 2014

I was on my way home on Greenways Road from my office in Velachery and was stuck on Gandhi Mandapam Road for more than 40 minutes Sridevi B

2013

Average northeast monsoon

86 60

2012

85

2011

Average annual rainfall

76

2010

140

I started at 6.45pm CIT Colony and it took more than three hours to reach Sterling road Priya Vasudevan

It takes 30 minutes to reach SIET College bus stop from Adithanar road. But it took close to two hours Ali

Pics: B A Raju & R Ramesh Shankar

Devanshu Arya

Rain Brings City To Standstill A Prathap

Traffic Thrown Out Of Gear, Cops Struggle To Maintain Order

Rail users hit as train services disrupted

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:The city came to a virtual standstill on Monday evening after a heavy downpour and angry residents, many of them stuck for hours on flooded roads in pouring rain, berated civic agencies, mainly the city corporation and state highways, for poor monsoon preparedness. Key stretches, including Anna Salai, GST Road, Poonamallee High Road, Arcot Road, Sardar Patel Road, Perambur Barracks Road, Dr Radhakrishnan Salai, CTH Road, ECR and OMR, were jammed and commuters took more than two hours to reach their destinations. While traffic virtually stopped in northern neighbourhoods like Purasawalkam, Patalam, Otteri and Ayanavaram, two cars stalled on the flooded road near Vivekananda College in Mylapore, forcing police to divert traffic. Water on Gandhi Mandapam Road was waist-deep, affecting vehicles from Alwarpet to areas like OMR and Adyar. In places like RA Puram, residents were seen helping traffic police clear traffic snarls. “It took more than two hours to reach Kilpauk from Egmore which normally takes 15 minutes,” said IT professional K Raman. Traffic signals and street lights went on the blink on several stretches. “There were no policemen on the stretch and signals were also not working,” said K Raju, a resident of Mylapore. While government agencies, including the corporation and traffic police, did little to warn people about traffic congestion, several netizens shared useful information. While Chandramouli S tweeted “Thambiah road is flood almost up to the knees. Avoid going especially by vehicles,” Shijith Anand wrote “Very heavy traffic in the Chennai Central to Purusaiwalkam stretch! Stranded for the last 2.5 hrs in an MTC bus! Avoid the route.” Avadi resident S Vaidyanathan said, “I started from office at 7.45pm and took a bus from Nandanam but reached Gemini flyover at 9.30pm. Traffic was moving at a snail’s pace on Anna Salai.” Many subways were submerged and auto and cab drivers refused to ply because of the traffic congestion. Metro rail came as a relief for those travelling from Alandur to Koyambedu. Corporation officials struggling to drain water from low-lying areas said the task in areas like Sidco Nagar in Villivakkam was difficult. “We are now focusing on draining out water from subways to prevent traffic jam,” said an official. He said they were able to reduce the number of flooded areas from 800 to 95. “But the number of areas will increase after today’s rain.”

From Adyar to Alandur, lanes turn waterways TIMES NEWS NETWORK

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Traffic piled up on Chamiers Road in Nandanam as heavy rain lashed the city for more than three hours on Monday

With water entering sub-stations, TNEB suspends power supply TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The heavy downpour on Monday evening disrupted power supply in the city and outskirts. It rained for more than three hours flooding several areas within the core city and suburbs following which TNEB officials, as a precautionary measure, cut power supply to many areas. “We had to cut electricity in areas which were flooded after the heavy rain. It is only to prevent people touching a live wire as it happened in Velachery on Sunday,” said a senior TNEB official. Residents in parts of Velachery, Kotturpuram, Villivakkam, Royapettah, Virugambakkam, Vepery, Foreshore Estate and other areas complained of power cuts soon after it started raining around 4pm. “I came back from office at 8pm after spending nearly three hours on the road in the rain. When I reached

Electrocution: Tangedco suspends 4 officials Chennai: Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) has suspended four officials after a couple was electrocuted in Velachery on Sunday. Karuna, 40, and his wife Sudha died on the spot when a power cable snapped and fell on them while they were walking with their two children at Asthalakshmi Nagar, Velachery.

The road was waterlogged when the accident took place. Angry residents staged a protest and blocked traffic on 100ft road in Velachery. “We have suspended two senior officials and two foremen holding them responsible for the incident. We are checking the cables in each street to prevent any other incident,” said a senior Tangedco official.

home there was no power. I have no idea when the supply will be restored,” said IT official K Kothandaraman, a resident of Royapettah. Residents and shopkeepers in several areas complained about water entering their houses or shops. TNEB too said several facilities were inundated. “Water has entered sub-stations and junction boxes and as a precaution we had to cut power in these areas. As soon as the water

level comes down, power supply will be restored in these areas,” said the official. On Ethiraj Salai in Egmore, power supply was disrupted after a big tree fell across the road in the evening. “We had to cut power supply there as the traffic movement is heavy. The road was flooded and it was difficult for our workers to locate the live wires,” said the TNEB official.

Chennai: Many suburban trains on the Chennai-Tiruvallur and Chennai-Tambaram routes were delayed during evening peak hour inconveniencing hundreds of commuters. Several long distance travellers suffered as many could not reach Central and Egmore railway stations. Suburban trains were operating slowly as tracks were waterlogged in Avadi and Ambattur on Moore Market Complex/Beach line and St Thomas Mount. The rain also hit express trains; most of them were delayed. Commuters had a tough time accessing some stations, including Park station opposite Central. The access road to Mambalam railway station was also flooded.

TRACKS WATERLOGGED A railway official said trains were operated at restricted speed on stretches where the tracks were waterlogged. Trains between Tambaram and Chengalpet were also delayed. A railway official said train services were not disrupted but many were delayed. Pattravakkam bridge connecting Ambattur industrial area and the railway station broke because of the incessant rain, thereby, cutting off the industrial area and the railway station. T Sadagopan, a frequent commuter, said hundreds of employees of industrial units were affected because they had to travel to MTC depots to take buses. “The bridge was convenient for commuters to access the railway station. There is no alternative to reach the station from the industrial area. Workers had a tough time reaching home,” he added.

Chennai: The evening showers on Monday flooded localities like Jafferkhanpet, West Saidapet, Alandur, Velachery, Villivakkam, Kolathur, Korattur and RK Nagar which were already inundated due to the incessant rain last week. Mohammed Rahman, a resident of housing board colony in Kotturpuram, whose ground floor home was flooded, said: “We had just heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday when the water receded but now it is back to square one.” Areas in south Chennai like Thillai Ganga Nagar, Madipakkam and Ullagaram were yet to recover from last week’s downpour. and many residents were nearly risking their lives taking to the roads in these localities, when Monday showers brought life to a standstill. Adyar too bore the brunt. Anna Avenue was the worst affected in the area. A resident of Kasturba Nagar said: “Water entered even the washrooms. While my 88-year-old grand aunt is now using a bed pan, I had to carry my 90-year-old grandmother to the first floor every time she wanted to use the washroom.”

NEWS DIGEST

Pattravakam bridge in Ambattur that collapsed following rain on Monday

Two washed away in floods A 57-year-old woman and her brother were washed away when they tried to cross a flooded causeway near Senneerkuppam near Tiruverkadu on Sunday. Witnesses told police that Kumar slipped and fell down when he was walking through knee-deep water on while his sister Vijayalakshmi was washed away when she tried to rescue him.

Pipeline repaired: After being washed away, an iron pipeline near Kasi theatre at Ekkaduthangal was replaced by Metrowater on Monday and water supply was resumed.

Rainwater damages medicine boxes in Chromepet hospital TOI

Health department intensifies dengue control measures TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The state health department has issued a fresh advisory to directorate of public health to intensify measures to check the breeding of mosquitoes after experts warned that the dengue situation may worsen in the wake of fresh showers across

the state. “In view of the recent rains, there is a possibility of water stagnation in containers and disposed of plastic

OUTBREAK FEARED and junk material, giving rise to breeding of Aedes mosquitoes. So we are strengthening

prevention methods,” said director of public health Dr K Kolandaisamy. A senior physician at Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital said the hospital sees at least three children with clinical dengue every day. “The hospital wards are overwhelmed with many kids coming in with symptoms

such as high fever, vomiting and joint pains. While we also get a lot of cases from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, the numbers of dengue cases have certainly been surging over the past couple of months,” he said. “For dengue to occur you need concentrated areas of people – it’s a city-based dis-

ease and a tricky one to eradicate because the dengue mosquito bites during the day, unlike the malaria mosquito,” said the doctor. Keeping the possibility of an outbreak in mind, the civic body and department of public health are going all out to control and prevent dengue through various sensitisa-

tion programmes and preventive measures. “Most of the efforts are concentrated on households and residential localities. Door-to-door campaigning, fogging and source reduction by eliminating mosquito larvae are done at breeding sites,” said a corporation official. The flooded medicine room at Chromepet hospital TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: That rainwater makes its way into the ground floor of Chromepet General Hospital was evident in the first spell of rain last week. On Monday morning, the hospital staff were caught unawares as rain again inundated the ground floor soaking medicine boxes on the ground. Witnesses said after the ground floor was flooded, many patients, including those in the maternity ward, were shifted to the upper storeys. But in the ensuing chaos, many boxes of medicines placed on the floor got soaked in the

water and got spoiled. People were seen clicking photos. Hospital staff, who were sitting in the medicine room, were seen wading in ankle-deep water and shifting the boxes to cupboards and shelves after noon. However, officials at the hospital denied any damage to the medicines. They said the medicines were shifted to a safer location before the water entered the hospital. The Chromepet General Hospital is the only affordable government medical facility for people living in 100-odd nearby villages.

City generates 1,500 tonnes extra garbage TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The city generated 6,500 tonnes of garbage on Monday 1,500 tonnes more, than the daily average. “This increase is because of the waste collected from the manholes,” said social welfare minister B Valarmathi during a press meet in Ripon Buildings. “Manholes are opened to drain water from the roads and the super suction machine not only draws in water but it also

picks up debris from the roads which is adding to the extra waste.” The minister said 175 extra vehicles had been deployed to collect the additional garbage and 2,000 additional workers roped in on a contract basis for rain-related work. No evacuations were carried out on Monday after the torrential rain flooded and brought traffic to a standstill. As of now 2,931 people are living in 23 flood relief camps in marriage halls and schools.