Chennai battling floods in the wake of Cyclone Michuang

Chennai: Cars floating in a sea of water in parking areas and low-lying areas of high-rise apartments, people walking in waist-deep water on main roads, and the worst affected people being rescued and taken to safety in boats – agonies. Chennai residents faced heavy rainfall on Monday due to Cyclone Michong, one of the worst in recent times.

From the glittering IT corridor to suburban areas like Pallikaranai, Tambaram and Medavakkam to the city’s western Mambalam, Mylapore, Kodambakkam, Nungambakkam, Anna Nagar, Perambur, Valasaravakkam and Adyar – heavy rains have left a trail of destruction everywhere. Lakhs of people remained indoors throughout Monday.

Wherever one went, the story was the same — knee- to waist-deep water, with the city receiving over 40 cm rainfall in just 48 hours. Most of the internal roads were filled with water, making it difficult for people to even reach neighborhood shops to buy groceries and essential goods.

People living in main city areas like Mambalam, Mylapore and Kodambakkam complained that their cars were floating in flood waters outside their houses or inside their apartment complexes, raising questions over the preparedness of civic agencies and the state government. , who spent Rs 4,000 crore. On rain water drains.

Videos of over a dozen cars floating in water in the parking area of a high-rise building in Pallikaranai on the outskirts went viral and were widely shared by people to show the magnitude of the cyclone-induced rain and its impact.

Velachery, another flood prone area, was also affected this time and several areas were submerged, while people in suburban areas like Mudichur, Perungalathur and Varadarajapuram were rescued from their homes using boats.

Taramani, the entry point of the IT corridor from the city, was completely flooded and cut off from the rest of the metropolis. The situation was similar in many neighboring areas and parts of the IT corridor.

“When I tried to go to my office in the morning my car was literally floating. After driving a kilometer I realized that I could not continue my journey. The roads looked like lakes because all I could see was water. I returned home,” Kanish, who works in the hospitality industry, told DH.

The Adyar river, the lifeline of the city, looked like a sea on Monday even as people living on its banks were evacuated to safety. Social media, especially the

Pallikaranai was one of the worst-affected areas, with several videos of knee-deep water inside a high-rise building apparently surfacing amid the deluge spreading on social media and WhatsApp. While apartment residents complained of flooding, social media users and activists pointed out that the area where the complex is built is marshy land and such a situation was inevitable.