Floods situation improves in Tamil Nadu; PM announces Rs.1000 cr more

Life for people in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai continues to be difficult though the rains have stopped in the capital.  Many areas in Chennai still remain under water and supplies of essentials were difficult, said residents. “Water logging continues to be there. The water flow in Adyar river has come down and the amount of surplus water was released into the river from the Chembarambakkam lake.

The Southern Railways have announced special trains to Tirunelveli, Rameswaram and Howrah from Chennai Beach station. The power supply was restored in the areas where water has receded, but it was still cut in many other places.However, communication lines — landline and mobile — continue to disrupt.

In heavily flooded areas like Mudichur and Tambaram, people were looking up to the skies praying for the rains to stop, and for relief materials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an additional relief package of 1 thousand crore rupees over and above the 940 crore rupees released on 23rd last month from the National Disaster Response Fund.

font-size: 10pt;">He made the offer after having an aerial view of the affected areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts. He was later briefed by the state Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa and Governor K.Rosiah about the extent of the damages.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has augmented its relief efforts in the affected region even as its vessel INS Airawat anchored at Chennai Port with 150 sailors and about 20 tonnes of relief materials and medicines. It already has deployed 200 people on the field, rescuing people from marooned areas. Nine columns of Army are involved in relief mission. 24 NDRF teams, four helicopters from Indian Air Force and two from the Indian Coast Guard are also pressed into rescue and relief measures.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa made a request with the Prime Minister for 10 more columns of Army and another twenty teams of NDRF, which was accepted by him who gave directions to send the personnel at the earliest. She also demanded 5 thousand crore rupees from the National Disaster Response Fund, saying the massive devastation caused by floods justifies declaring the calamity a national disaster.