CHENNAI: Residents who left Perumbakkam clinging on for dear life before Cyclone Michaung wreaked havoc in the city, have slowly begun to return. But, they now have to come to terms with extensive damage meted out to their valuables in houses and vehicles.
Individual villas and flats on ground floors in three high-rise apartments in Perumbakkam were the worst affected as flood water breached the houses and reached up to a whopping height of six feet.
Abhishek, an IT employee, bought a flat at Bollineni Hillside Apartments in 2018. Fearing the worst, he left for his native Villupuram last week. “We had to evacuate as my parents needed medical attention. I left them in Villupuram and returned to Chennai on Sunday.
However, the damages that awaited me here were frightening. I expected waterlogging, but not to this extreme level. Both my two-wheeler and car have sustained damages. I have hired a towing vehicle to shift my four-wheeler to the service centre,” he said.
While almost all families residing on ground floors or individual villas left for their native before the skies opened up, the others stayed back. S Several years ago, when the IT sector took root in Chennai, many professionals opted for Perumbakkam, which lies close to Old Mahabalipuram, as their place of residence. So, understandably, the majority of victims of Michaung damages in Perumbakkam are IT employees.
Take the case of Kannan S who moved to Perumbakkam in 2017. “I opted for Perumbakkam instead of OMR since there was affordable housing here. But, I was not aware of the flood risk in the area. Now I am thinking of selling my flat and moving to less vulnerable areas near Tambaram,” the IT employee said.
The residents have already started replacing damaged essentials like mats, pillows and mattresses.
Though the state government had ordered that schools would reopen from Monday, the private schools in flood-affected areas will fully reopen only on Wednesday. “We need to replace a lot of damaged furniture. So, only higher secondary students were asked to come on Monday,” said a private school teacher. Meanwhile, the residents are extremely upset over the lack of preparedness on the part of authorities.