Chennai Floods | Stranded In A Deluge: 'We Have Not Learnt From 2015'

At the outset, I would say that we haven’t learnt our lessons from the 2015 floods. But we repeat the same practice of parking our cars on the bridges.

As a long term resident of Chennai, I feel we have always borne the brunt of waterlogging and the government’s inadequate preparation for the monsoon season. In and around Velachery, there are several low lying areas like Ram Nagar, Ashtalakshmi Nagar which face huge problems when there is a heavy downpour. Like in 2015, this year the rains didn’t even spare the rich and those in power. The house of our MLA JMH Aasan Maulanna was affected by the rains. The legislator himself had tweeted a picture of his house being inundated with rainwater. Though the rescue measures are in full swing there are some perennial problems I would like to highlight.

The expansion of Chennai city has been quite problematic and does not respect the inland waterways of the city. Many urban planners say that this is one of the reasons for flooding in Chennai and especially in areas like Velachery and Pallikaranai. In Velachery, several lanes have been flooded. There have been reports of the sewage water getting mixed with drinking water in my area. This happened especially when one of the stormwater drains were identified to have been damaged during the relief work. I am writing this article with the hope of completing it before my power backup ends completely. This is a testimony to show how irregular our power supply is.

Domestic help workers and manual wage earners have been the worst hit in Velachery. My maid says that she had to literally swim across the lanes before reaching my complex. There was knee-deep water around my complex yesterday and I felt like I was living on an island. Adding to the woes, arterial roads of Velachery like the Velachery Main Road have been blocked in parts for commuters and buses which ply only with a skeleton fleet in my areas. The buses have leaking roofs and this leads to several other problems.

Auto drivers and cabs are not coming to my area as they don’t want their vehicles to get waterlogged. The corporation officials are trying their level best to fight nature's fury but it is too late as enough damage has already been done. With regards to essential supplies, we are not facing any shortage but a steep 25-30 per cent increase in every item of grocery that we buy. This has really burnt our pockets to a great extent. With the sewage mixing with our drinking water supply, we are warned of a possible outbreak of communicable diseases if the situation persists.

Motorists have to be really careful while commuting in the bylanes and a few streets of my area as the roads have been damaged greatly. I could now see a motorist in my lane losing control of his vehicle and falling off his bike as he tried to avoid a pit on the road. Our roads in Velachery have often been criticised for poor quality and the rain has exposed its inefficiency greatly. Though I have a lot to say still I don’t have the power supply to finish and submit the piece and hence submitting this.