Chennai Rains: People Leave in Droves for Safer Destinations

What forced life to a standstill for even the luckier ones in areas not surrounded by waters were the power cuts and erratic cellphone network.

CHENNAI: What forced life to a standstill for even the luckier ones in areas not surrounded by waters were the power cuts and erratic cellphone network. It is not just the city residents, who opened their doors for their kin, a few educational institutions also threw open their campuses for the flood-affected people.

The south of Tambaram, especially Mudichur, remained marooned on Wednesday too as the flood waters released from the lakes continued to gush into these areas. With large stretches in places like Iyyapanthangal and Kattupakkam near Poonamallee flooded and most houses inundated, people in these areas are leaving in droves for other cities. They are heading to Poonamallee from where they hope to take one of the few mofussil buses that are still plying between Chennai and other cities.

These people have no particular preference when it comes to their destination as long as it helps them get away from the flooded city. “I will catch the first bus I can to get out of here. I don’t mind where that bus goes as long as it is away from this city. From there, I will take other buses to Erode,” said K Senthil, who has vacated his ground floor apartment along with his four roommates to head home.