CHENNAI: Amid one of the highest monthly rainfall levels the city has received in the last 200 years, water stagnation has been reported in 186 streets across 75 areas in the city on Saturday morning.
Around 650 people from low-lying and vulnerable areas are being sheltered in relief camps.
Senior corporation officials told The New Indian Express that the city is only 17 mm short of getting 1000 mm of rainfall which it has received only four times in the last 200 years -- 1918, 1985, 2005 and 2015. Considering the quantum of rain, the impact on the city has been largely mitigated although there has been water stagnation in several areas, said officials.
However, residents in many parts of the city have been impacted by the recent rains.
Chandramouli, who works at a private firm in T Nagar, said that he was asked to shift out of his hostel in KK Nagar due to waterlogging.
"We are shifting to relatives' houses and are taking with us those who don't have relatives in the city. We don't get cabs or autos to this area so we have to walk to catch a bus," he said.
Residents of Velachery's AGS colony are also surrounded by water up to three feet deep.
M Sudha, a resident of AGS colony 1st main road and joint secretary of AGS colony residents welfare association, said that senior citizens are being shifted out of the area in case the situation worsens.
"Even for an emergency, we cannot step outside because it's not just rain water, there is also sewage mixed with it and the smell emanating from it makes it impossible to sit even in our living rooms," Sudha said.
S Gunasekaran, another resident, said that the single disposal point at veerangal odai was insufficient to drain out water from the area and needs to be diverted through Kalki Nagar.
While residents in some parts escaped with minor inconveniences, some others in the city are at risk of impact to their livelihoods.
Sekaran K, a vendor at Marina beach behind the Labour statue, said that water had begun entering many of the stalls and damaging goods.
"Our livelihoods are already lost because of the rains and we cannot afford to have our goods damaged because of the water. Because we are at the beach, there is no respite unless water drains on its own," he said.
The city corporation's helplines received 1150 complaints on Friday and Saturday and civic body staff are in the process of resolving them.