The rains that lashed Chennai on Sunday and Monday nights caused flooding in some parts of the city. But with only brief spells of heavy rain, normalcy does not seem to have been affected. Officials of the Chennai Corporation say that they have taken all necessary measures to ensure that there is no disruption of traffic, or stagnation of water.
The civic body had held extensive meetings to prepare itself for the monsoon, which eventually failed. “We were prepared for the worst. These rains are not a problem. We have been able to keep things smooth,” says a Corporation official.
The civic body says trees fell in three places, but were quickly cleared away. There also has not been much waterlogging, say officials. “Core of the city saw barely any water stagnation. There were some inundation reported from Zone XIV (Perungudi) and Zone XV (Sozhinganallur). Our officials oversaw the work to cut a path for the stagnated water to flow out of the low lying areas,” the Corporation official added.
He claimed motors that had been kept on standby had been used to pump water out of subways even as the rain continued to fall.
Sporadic cases of waterlogged streets, however, continued to come in from different parts of the city. A majority of these reports were from low lying areas, or localities adjoining rivers or other water bodies. Local officials say they have been instructed to visit these places with a team and dig out the channels required for the water to flow out of the area.