While the heat has been scorching in Chennai for the last two months, since June 17, the heat has subsided and the city of Chennai has become cloudy. Heavy rain since last night (June 18) continued till today (June 19) morning, leaving the roads flooded. Due to this, the district administration gave holidays to schools in Chennai district. After arguments arose on social media about rain water standing on the roads, “Chennai that can’t stand even a day of rain…” and “Chennai stopped by rain”, “How is Chennai after the heavy rain?” We went into the field to find out.
Chennai Nungambakkam, Choolaimedu, D. Nagar, Kodambakkam, Saitappettai, Ayar Lampu, Annanagar, Parangimalai, Guindy, Ekkaduthangal, Meenambakkam, Madipakkam, Velachery, Trishulam, Egmore, etc., were seen standing on the roads due to heavy rain. It is also noteworthy that due to the heavy rains there was a traffic jam in Chennai. It was also seen that in the rain water stagnant areas, the municipal corporation employees and the state disaster recovery team came to the field and engaged in the work of draining the stagnant water. The Meteorological Department reported that 8 to 16 cm of rain fell in major parts of the city.
Talking to us about this, Rajendran, an auto driver from D. Nagar area, said, “It has been raining heavily since midnight. As soon as it rained, the water stagnated. At some places it drains off after a while, but at many places the rain water stagnates on the road. Now I had to ride from D. Nagar to Kodambakkam and Nungambakkam. The situation is the same there. But instead of standing continuously like before, the rainwater drains within three hours,” he said.
When asked the people of Velachery area, “there was a large water reservoir in the environment of heavy rain. But it drains in a few hours,” they said.
We also asked a tea shop owner near Guindi Kathippara. “The subway under the Kathippara bridge was always waterlogged and still is. Due to this, the traffic has been blocked since morning. “There is a situation where the water is drained only when the rescue teams come, but rainwater does not form by itself,” he said.
Speaking to the residents of Chulaimedu, Anna Arch, they said, “The roads are potholed due to sudden potholes, pits dug for various works. There is a risk of two-wheeler accidents due to the accumulation of rainwater in them. They said that the government should have repaired the roads when the sun was scorching.
Ambattur, Korattur area ADMK councilor John said, “Though the reservoir is not large in the surrounding areas of Ambattur, when it starts raining heavily, the municipal officials come with a motor. It is for this reason that many crores of rupees have been spent and rainwater drains have been constructed… It is obvious that there is no environment where rainwater drains by itself,” said Disgruntled.
We spoke to Nedunjehian, a DMK figure and a member of the public health department of the Tambaram Corporation. “I have been traveling from Koyambedu to Pallavaram since the morning, even though there has been unprecedented heavy rain in Chennai, there is no water reservoir anywhere to stop the traffic. The reason for this is that rainwater drainage works were carried out in the Chennai and Tambaram Municipal Corporation by identifying water-logged places in the past. Corporation officials have been appointed to immediately repair wherever rainwater is stagnant. In many places, the water is draining automatically, officials are carrying out the work only in the non-draining areas,” he said.
We spoke to Suresh, an officer of the Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Team about the rescue operations. “They only call us for jobs where there is a large reservoir. We were only invited to Guindy Kathippara area after yesterday’s heavy rains. We are not invited to any other area.”
Speaking to us in the Nungambakkam area, the municipal corporation officials said, “When the rain started to increase, wherever there is a chance of rain water getting stagnant, they had asked us to start monitoring. Accordingly, we continuously monitor the accumulated rainwater from morning onwards. If there is a reservoir, we immediately evacuate it,” he said.
“Hundreds of municipal workers are working to drain water in many parts of Chennai. A day or two of rain cannot tell whether the storm drains are working out. “Though the corporation and the government have handled today’s rain well, we can know about the status of rainwater drains only in the coming days,” say social activists.
“Let us know what the situation is in your area in the comments!”
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