Chennai floods

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 03 Dec 2015 06:44

I have heard through friends in Chennai that the unprecedented floods has brought about the menace of snakes in the water, probably trying to escape the water. As if the floods were not enough.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Dec 2015 06:58

How is IIT Madras campus?

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 07:06

ldev wrote:I have heard through friends in Chennai that the unprecedented floods has brought about the menace of snakes in the water, probably trying to escape the water. As if the floods were not enough.

Then there were rumours of crocs escaping from the Madras Crocodile Bank. Thankfully, they were only rumours.

A bunch of trains have been cancelled:
http://www.sr.indianrailways.gov.in/vie ... id=0,4,268

The Cooum river at between Nungambakkam and Chetpet stations:

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 07:07

From Twitter:

Nandita Iyer ‏@saffrontrail 15m15 minutes ago

A document compiling all the Area wise updates -https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V9T ... view?pli=1 … #Chennairains

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V9T ... view?pli=1

This is a very useful crowd sourced doc. For example:

CITY-WIDE STATUS UPDATES
Only Airtel phone connections are working. In some areas Airtel connections are down too.
No crocodiles have escaped from anywhere.
Information about Porur lake being released is NOT true
Update-(https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/gudnew ... 2136512922). Information about Porur Lake is false.
Chennai airport is closed till Dec 6

[neighbourhood - alphabetical]

ABHIRAMAPURAM/ALWARPET
Water has come in from somewhere around 5.30 a.m IST on 3rd dec. people at around level have moved to higher levels.- had a phone call at 8 a.m

ADYAR
Info from 6:00 AM IST, Dec 3rd, Rains have reduced to a drizzle!

ADAMBAKKAM
Info from 3.30 AM IST, Dec 3rd, Rains have reduced to a drizzle!
...
<snip>

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 03 Dec 2015 07:12

In Flooded Chennai, 'Crocodiles Have Escaped' Rumours Are Denied

Fish and tadpoles swimming on the first floor of a house in Chennai illustrated chaos in India's fourth largest city, which is flooded after the worst rain in a century.

In parts of the city submerged in waist-deep water - or neck-deep in areas like Annanagar - leeches and snakes have become a big worry for residents.

In the circumstances, rumours of crocodiles running loose were denied emphatically by the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust.

"There have been no escapes. Please don't believe the rumours. All our crocs are accounted for. #safe #rumours," tweeted the trust, assuring that its staff was working round the clock to watch the animals.

"Safety is our number 1 priority. Please don't spread panic in a city which is reeling with many troubles," said the organisation.

The trust explained that its security measures are fool-proof. A wall is built all around the crocodile farm.

The Chennai zoo is flooded, apparently for the first time ever. Officials were forced to walk four km to reach it. Heavy rain has damaged a 40-year-old wall around the zoo but officials said all animals are safe.

There are over 150 animals in the zoo, including 46 endangered species. Officials denied that animals were out of their cages because of the flooding.

Comer · Post by **Comer** » 03 Dec 2015 07:14

ramana wrote:How is IIT Madras campus?

Dunno about the campus per se but Kotturpuram has waterlogging and so does area around Madhya Kailash

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 03 Dec 2015 07:20

Earlier there were pics floating around of flooded parts. Hostel zone low lying Madak flooded. So was OAT and the cricket grounds. Not sure if this was last week's event or this week's.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 07:33

Please share:

Some train services have been restored:

vimal
‏@srvboys

@ChennaiRains Train service started frm Chengelpet to Guduvanchery..

and..

Sabarinath ‏@Sabariboo 5m5 minutes ago

Chennai Sub Urban Train Services will function today. #Verified #ChennaiRains #Share @priya_bvniskr @rajeshmdirector @ChennaiRains

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 07:42

Apparently, Cuddalore is in an even worse shape. Not much media coverage yet.

Meanwhile, something heartening:

.
Source: Twitter

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 03 Dec 2015 07:44

shiv wrote:IAF role in floods and natural disasters. Sadly I have no material on what the navy is doing - the navy is also rendering yeoman service in Chennai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7IU1a4EMw

They certainly are. My relatives were rescued by the IN.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 07:45

Comer wrote:
ramana wrote:How is IIT Madras campus?
Dunno about the campus per se but Kotturpuram has waterlogging and so does area around Madhya Kailash

And Velachery.

Though the campus is quite large with relatively little man-made obstructions, so it should be okay. Also, when compared to Velachery, it is on slight higher ground, so the water will run off into Velachery.

member_26535 · Post by **member_26535** » 03 Dec 2015 07:55

Since disasters of this scale are becoming frequent, we as a country need to invest massively in augmenting capabilities to support large scale rescue and relief

- Atleast 1000+ Mi17 type helos, Build another line of - Blackhawk/ NH 90 / our own AMH
- Atleast one additional airfield / ALG/ Airport near all large tier 1 population centres
- Augment NDRF capabilities manifold.. Numbers, Mobilization, Investment, stocks of material needed, transport capabilities etc etc
- disaster management and training to be part of high school curriculum
- Massive increase in the transport fleet - Vanilla C130s, Speed up MTA, A400Ms
- Landing docks / Platforms
===========
Please move it to the right one if this is a wrong thread
=================

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 03 Dec 2015 08:01

This from 16 days ago of iit campus....so must have been bad this week too.

More here..
https://imgur.com/a/K51uZ

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Dec 2015 08:08

18 Moments Of Incredible Humanity During The Chennai Rains - BuzzFeed

amol · Post by **amol** » 03 Dec 2015 08:16

ramana wrote:How is IIT Madras campus?

The campus is flooded. Phone lines are down as is the power. Was supposed to be there yesterday (Wednesday). Everything was clear until Tuesday about noon, including the airport and the roads to the campus, but the water started rising started soon after. Cancelled trip at the last minute, and glad that I did!

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 03 Dec 2015 08:40

This is the time for innovation, what about tethered balloons as cell towers
Anybody from HAM club into action.

What about good old MW/Sw low power transmitters? Use HAL basant, pushpak like small aircraft ( for endurance) as towers for short duration?

Just some thoughts

Is Kalpakam and other Kundanakulam. Ok

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 03 Dec 2015 08:56

How many will be written off...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Dec 2015 09:06

none I think. the water has risen upto the landing gear and not higher. these things are built tough to soak in rain. after a inspection, they will run.

but one photo on NDTV showed a executive jet washed away by fast water and lying on its side in the trees.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 03 Dec 2015 09:14

Bade wrote:How many will be written off...

None.

Insurance will pay and they will be back to service fairly quickly. Most of them will be leased a/c anyway.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 03 Dec 2015 09:23

and check this:
http://www.jaffaa.com/wp-content/upload ... papers.jpg

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 03 Dec 2015 09:28

arshyam wrote:A crowdsourced map of flooded streets: http://osm-in.github.io/flood-map/chennai.html

Is this map even half-way realistic? It shows about 70 % of 'core Chennai' flooded.
Teynampet, Royapet and Triplicane seem to be better off.

vina · Post by **vina** » 03 Dec 2015 09:29

Mamata Bannerjee and one of her Trinamool MPs had a case of severe verbal incontinence. Mamta said, Modi giving money to TN and not for Bengal (as if money is what Madras needs now).

That Yumm Pea went a step further. Stood up in Parliament when the minister was replying, interrupted him , and said that six of his relatives were stuck in Madras Airport and they had gone there to get their ticket invalidated /cancelled, but AI is not giving them a refund/stamping it and this should be fixed on "priority ".

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Dec 2015 09:30

^ thats how goon squads operate and TMC is just that.

vina · Post by **vina** » 03 Dec 2015 09:34

Singha wrote:^ thats how goon squads operate and TMC is just that.

Yeah, that Yum Pea took to the egregious extreme. I just hope just to spite that dunce, the TN police kick his relatives out of the airport onto the streets and the Yumm Pea can whine further today in Parliament.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 03 Dec 2015 09:59

Spinster wrote:This is the time for innovation, what about tethered balloons as cell towers

In India all these cell phone towers also have a DG set fixed near by. Which makes me feel that they require some good amount of electrical power to keep going. So such a cell tower-on air, may not work in India.

Anybody from HAM club into action.

I am a HAM, and was over-hearing the conversation on High Frequency bands today.
1. Chennai has an active HAM community, and they had also reached out to the government authorities and offered assistance. This was turned down because the state government's own VHF network (mainly police and the fire brigade) are very much active, and they can also easily coordinate with NDRF and other sister-agencies. In TN from what I know even other non-critical departments like state transport have VHF wireless networks.
2. Few HAMs are active on HF and VHF (folks who were veterans and had good battery back up systems). For them the biggest challenge is that they cannot move out as their surroundings are flooded. So them collating information, or passing information is now not possible.
----
From what I heard, around 8 NDRF battalions are now getting deployed in Chennai. Which also makes wonder, was TN government feeling that they could manage the flood situation "in house"? And they kind of did not reach out to the Central Government earlier. And kudos to the citizens of Chennai who have been every keen to help each other, without worrying about their own comforts or wallets. My respect for the city has gone up one notch.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 03 Dec 2015 10:45

Relief:Various cities I understand have official "drop points" for relief material.The material reqd.
Milk powder,foodstuffs,clothing-preferably shawls,blankets,sheets,dhotis/lungis.I'm not sure about medicine as waterborne diseases will definitely break out and only the local/central authorities with their med teams will be able to dole out med. relief to the masses.

Once again we see local authorities overwhelmed by such a catastrophic disaster and unable to get their act together.Why?

Firstly,there should be several regional Disaster Relief centres and teams.The DR central management entity should list out the various types of disasters (earthquakes,floods,landslides,fire,industrial accidents like Bhopal,tsunamis,etc.The zones where earthquakes are prevalent are well known,similarly those coastal areas vulnerable to cyclones,tsunamis,etc. Relief material reqd. for each disaster should be stored closer to the zones with the regional centres so that they get to the areas affected asap.
One has to anticipate that communications will break down and setting up mobile commns centres as the IA possesses should be the first act.Aerial surveillance,UAVs,etc. will give a picture of the devastation and the DR teams can take iut from there.

In the case of Chennai/Madras, the local administration of both DMK/AIADMK regimes are the primary culprits. Old Madras of the '70s and '80s also experienced similar massive rainfall but the damage was less.The heaviest day's rainfall was in '76 (still stands) which I experienced.It rained non-stop for a week.low lying areas next to river banks were flooded,apts. for slum dwellers cut off, helo rescues took place,Sanjay Gandhi flew in as well with Central relief. Every decade or so the same has happened and each time you have one or other of the Dravidian parties in power.have they learnt anything? No.
One year during this century I was flying back from Cbo and the city was hit with a massive downpour that in just a few hours paralysed the city.We couldn't land as the airport runway was flooded and the landing was aborted seconds before touchdown.We returned to Cbo and flew in a day later.

In the last 20 years,there has been an explosion of development,real estate has run amok in cahoots with politicos,and babus,where many builders are or front for politcos. Madras/Chennai has two principal rivers the snakelike Cooum and the Adyar River.The Adyar River is the defining line between north and south madras/Chennai.The old boundary of south Madras used to be Guindy,where the madras IIT and other ed institutions,Raj Bhavan,the Race Club,Guindy Forest and Deer park are located.Beyond this belt was swampy,low-lying land and waterbodies connecting the Buckingham Canal which runs from Andhra N-South.Once a waterway,today it is a stinking sewage canal.The Old Mahabalipuram Rd. (OMR Rd),has seen the sprawl of the concrete jungle racing southwards cutting off the old drainage channels to the sea.This is why places like Tambaram in the suburbs are also flooded.To add to the misery,the tanks which hold the city's fresh water supplies have filled to the brim and water has been let out into the rivers which has swamped the city! The drainage dates back from the British era in parts of the city.Those still I am told work,while the new ones laid down by the D parties function poorly or not at all or simply aren't' there! How many new layouts and neighbourhoods in the urban sprawl have UG drainage? Along with increased concrete paving on the ground,water has no escape route. Bangalore too has its own share of filled up tanks,etc. This is not a unique problem.All major cities located near rivers and waterbodies will experience such problems due to urban sprawl and poor planning.

Global warming,cosmic changes are producing more extreme weather conditions,where rainfall in 24 hrs. at extreme times like these are double. Bombay experienced it some years ago and the same reasons came into play even there. The waters will recede,the summer will be extra hot,Chennai will in the future experience water shortage problems, but unless there is a holistic metro master plan put into effect , a proper sewerage and drainage system put in place and natural water bodies meant to soak up the excess rainfall cleaned and protected from the builders ,history will repeat itself. The eco damage to the city and country is catastrophic. Chennai is the "Detroit city of India". Right now it is the "Drowned city of India".

The big Q is whether the politico-babu-builder nexus in the country will listen to reason.The CM of TN is to conduct an "aerial review".Why not a "boat review"? More relevant to see first hand at ground level what ordinary people are experiencing.She perhaps doesn't want her precious toes getting wet?

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 03 Dec 2015 11:23

I started from my home on Tuesday morning to drop my wife at Mahindra city at around 7.30. It was drizzling and enroute crossed a small portion of the flooded road in Selaiyur and then got stuck in irumbiluy bridge for an hour. Then got stuck at Zoo junction for close to another hour. WThey closed the lane towards Chinglepet on account of it getting flooded. We were asked to take the other lane. Saw an half submerged SRM college bus. Water was gushing on our lane but managed to reach Guduvanchery. We then decided to return home itself as Rain was picking up. Pulled over to have breakfast and filled up diesel on my car.. Then reached Tambaram and instead of taking Selaiyur route tried to reach home via Chromepet. Got stuck near the Govt hospital which got flooded and they started shifting the patients to top floor. Returned back to Tambaram to try the Selaiyur route again but the road got flooded badly. While crossing the bridge saw the tracks getting submerged. Then reached Chromepet via east Tambaram and after Hastinapuram, the road to my home was cut as the canal enroute had breached flooding the culvert. Decided to park the car near my friends place and walk across the culvert. Since the current was so strong, Police stopped people from crossing it
Went back to Chromepet try going home via Pallavaram Thuraipakkam road and Kovilamabakkam but could not manage to cross vettri theater as the road got blocked on one side. Then returned back and decided to take refuge in my friend's place. Spent time from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm in trying to cover the last couple of miles to my home before giving up. Was safe in my friends place. The rain became relentless with no power. My friends neighbors house were getting flooded and they started taking refuge in my friends house. We then decided to walk down home through an interior route which never gets flooded but only accessible through walk. After walking for 1 km in shin level water, the water started increasing drastically. We neared a raid junction and it was crossing river in full flow. Policemen stopped us from proceeding further as the even the high grounds were flooded because the chitlapakkam lake got breached. Policemen and local offiicials were standing in heavy rains and directing people to safety. We then returned to my friends place. Next day morning water has receded and we scouted for a route home and made it back home.in my street there was 2 feet of water and there were other streets in my colony which were flooded in three feet of water. Came to know that our maid was about to drown while her way back home but was saved by two motorcyclist. The worst news was that my relative whom I had dropped at Guduvanchery had to wade through 4 feet of water to reach home. However water started to enter his house whose floor was at 5 feet above the road. Water started to increase to almost 3 feet above the floor or in other words 8 feet from the ground within an hour. He could not climb up the stairs without drowning. He then climbed on to the kitchen table and fortunately water receded after reaching the height of the kitchen table. Next day morning the water level receded furher to half a feet above the street. The flooding was caused my encroaches on the lake bed breaking the lake walls on the opposite side to save their ara from getting flooded. We were trying to reach out to emergency services trying to help him but night, and roads to the place getting choked with vehicles. Being helpless finally got news from him at 2.30 am that water has receded before we had slept off. Ordeal in the suburbs got over a bit but Chennai city got affected due to 40k cusecs of water that got discharged from Chembarambakkam lake.

Tyevturn of events were very quick and no body expected things to get worse so quickly. The local police corporations and people were doing tremendous job ad kudos to the spirit of the people. Humanity at its very best.

My grand mom at Srinagar colony near Saidapet had to be shifted to second floor in the same apartment. The area was accessible from. Raj Bhavan only by boat and coast gaaurd. They felt that she is safe in the apartment than being shifted elsewhere. Fortunately with help from good Samaritans everywhere death toll was low and it is a story of people getting stranded. The post flood problems of milk vegetables etc have started. Hopefully things will improve

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 03 Dec 2015 11:34

Bade wrote:Earlier there were pics floating around of flooded parts. Hostel zone low lying Madak flooded. So was OAT and the cricket grounds. Not sure if this was last week's event or this week's.

OAT always got flooded in heavy rains. I remember it getting submerged pretty badly from the cyclone in the 80s and the old canvas screens they had for movies got destroyed. Took a week of pumping to get all the water out of there. They built the permanent concrete movie screen after that incident IIRC.

I wonder how the lake is doing. Also it appears that Madras Ave., Bonn Ave. and Delhi Ave. are all flooded as well.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 03 Dec 2015 11:41

Sachin wrote:
Spinster wrote:This is the time for innovation, what about tethered balloons as cell towers
In India all these cell phone towers also have a DG set fixed near by. Which makes me feel that they require some good amount of electrical power to keep going. So such a cell tower-on air, may not work in India.

Anybody from HAM club into action.
I am a HAM, and was over-hearing the conversation on High Frequency bands today.
1. Chennai has an active HAM community, and they had also reached out to the government authorities and offered assistance. This was turned down because the state government's own VHF network (mainly police and the fire brigade) are very much active, and they can also easily coordinate with NDRF and other sister-agencies. In TN from what I know even other non-critical departments like state transport have VHF wireless networks.
2. Few HAMs are active on HF and VHF (folks who were veterans and had good battery back up systems). For them the biggest challenge is that they cannot move out as their surroundings are flooded. So them collating information, or passing information is now not possible.
----
From what I heard, around 8 NDRF battalions are now getting deployed in Chennai. Which also makes wonder, was TN government feeling that they could manage the flood situation "in house"? And they kind of did not reach out to the Central Government earlier. And kudos to the citizens of Chennai who have been every keen to help each other, without worrying about their own comforts or wallets. My respect for the city has gone up one notch.

NDRF and Military units have access to satellite phones just to overcome such a situation.

williams · Post by **williams** » 03 Dec 2015 11:56

Govt need to build 4 or 5 storm water channels around the city. The channels can eventually drain into the sea. It is a simple common sense work city PWD can undertake to stop this kind of disaster in future. That said, it is great to see the people working together calmly to help each other.

vina · Post by **vina** » 03 Dec 2015 12:35

Govt need to build 4 or 5 storm water channels around the city. The channels can eventually drain into the sea. It is a simple common sense work city PWD can undertake to stop this kind of disaster in future. That said, it is great to see the people working together calmly to help each other.

Seen the Cooum ? Know what the Buckingham Canal is ? Know what has become of them ? How about getting THEM cleaned up and useable first before getting on to a fool's errand of digging canals to create squatter colonies and sewage filled cess pools that stink to high heavens ?

Yeah, that said, you probably need new storm water drains and holding canals in the souther part of the city, roughly south of the GST road, all the way into Chengalpet district to the edge of Mahabalipuram . Those former wet lands have taken beating.

The traditional T Nagar/Anna Nagar kind of areas can be fixed with a rejuvenated Buckingham Canal/ Cooum/ Adayar river feeder ... And probably some way to take away surplus of Chembarambakkam and Red Hills lakes away from the city to wards the river that drains into the sea at Kalpakkam (Palar?) . That obviously has much higher carrying capacity than the Adayar and Buckingham canal systems.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 03 Dec 2015 12:37

Headmaster is coming to take Jaiza of situation....No need for Chennaites to get miffed with Modi

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Dec 2015 12:40

Is there any cab service that is still running in chennai ? I saw a few weeks back that Ola cabs were using boats instead of cars. Never took it seriously then. But is there any realistic way to get out of chennai ?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Dec 2015 12:57

LAX storm drains seem to be dry most times incl for the Terminator2 filming. but I guess pays off when the flash floods come from mountains. In india, people will complain why millions spent on such "idle" infra when it could be spent on school/hospitals/paying fat NGO salaries/managing poverty etc.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 03 Dec 2015 13:12

We just don't have a culture of planning and preventing. Even now, after the first rains, those who can leave should have left - ramanan was on tv everyday saying more rains. People generally have a tendency to stay put until it becomes too late and then complain nothing was done. Nothing was done - that is also a familiar failure. Was it not possible to desilt at least the places where canals meet sea so the flow can increase?

But the general people - something has triggered and people have overcome that urban barrier of apathy and selfishness. I know friends who are hosting complete strangers in their homes.

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 03 Dec 2015 13:13

Self deleted.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Dec 2015 13:17

>>Was it not possible to desilt at least the places where canals meet sea so the flow can increase?

I could see dozers and powered claw things at the mouth of the buckingham canal(?) near Fort st george on my last visit. the water was a vile colour and smell and had no visible flow.

vina · Post by **vina** » 03 Dec 2015 13:35

I could see dozers and powered claw things at the mouth of the buckingham canal(?) near Fort st george on my last visit. the water was a vile colour and smell and had no visible flow.

That is the Cooum river mouth. The Buckingham canal starts connects Pulicat Lake (where Sriharikota is) and connects Muthukkadu /Kovalm Beach/ Taj Vivanta (draining into the Salt Lake backwaters) and drains the minor lakes and rivers along the way .

My grandma long ago told me that when she was a school kid (Lady Wellingdon school, Triplicane, 1918s or so, she was a matriculate in those days) for their school excursion to Mahabalipuram, they used to take a boat along Buckingham canal and go there!

The entire system was an inland waterway , extending from Pulicat to Mahablipram via canal system. Since the Brits left, after independence, it has been destroyed and turned into an open sewage , with encroachments and all sides.

Chennai really has a ready made storm water drain system with the Buckingham canal, Cooum river and the Adayar river along with the great salt lake at Muthukkadu. If only it is properly used and not encroached upon by the Politoc/Babu/Builder/Slum Dweller mafia.

Same case with Bangalore and all it's lakes and the canals linking the lakes, built by the Mysore Maharajas, ruined by the "democratically" elected govts since independence. The system in Bangalore is beautiful, with overflow of upper reaches canals, flowing to lakes downstream and so on. Now it is a fetid mess with sewage running on it, with encroachments all over.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Dec 2015 13:47

our honable KA home minister has just proposed a soln to the traffic mess. underground ring and radial roads (!) some american co has fed him this daft idea. never mind they are struggling to tunnel a few km for the metro , he will use romulan tech to construct 100s of km of tunnel roads.

the peripheral ring road was abandoned and given up due to land buying problems.

the most reasonable idea I have heard today was govt to acquire more land than needed for these roads, develop the roads and adjacent vacant areas and hand over the leftover land to those who lost land to the roads - this leftover would be much appreciated in value due to infra.

otherwise we are past the tipping point and its a short slide into the darkness. FLIPKART has positioned the main gate of its upcoming uber campus on ORR onto the pitiful back road behind netz I use for commuting. looks like its going to be crawling with earth trucks day and night now.

partha · Post by **partha** » 03 Dec 2015 13:53

Bangalore gets away because of the elevation else it's the same story of encroached storm drains and apartments on lake beds. I am sure it's the same story in every Indian city. There was a Dharavi redevelopment plan for Mumbai which got scrapped unfortunately. We need such redevelopment plans for all cities. May be it could be part of smart city project. Mercilessly remove encroachments, pay market rate and widen roads, build proper water drainage system, grow vertical etc.