STORM GONE, STAGNATION REMAINS

AFTER-EFFECTS

STORM GONE, STAGNATION REMAINS

Two Days After Nivar, Low-lying Areas In City Inundated; Stagnation A Yearly Problem, Civic Authorities Callous, Say Residents

Srikkanth D & Komal Gautham TNN

28.11.2020

Two days after cyclone Nivar made landfall near the city, several streets struggle with stagnation even as the main roads and many neighbourhoods are back to normal. In many places, residents are wading through 1ft-2ft of water.

More than 50 houses at CRR Puram in Virugambakkam are marooned as water is yet to drain off the streets. Many residents have been using buckets to drain water onto the streets and say this is the situation every year. Until noon on Friday, the corporation had not pumped out water, said V Mahesh. “The drain water is seeping inside our houses and we are getting skin infections. Despite being near the main bus terminus in the city, we have been facing this situation.”

The neighbourhood is a low-lying area and water from nearby Ilango Nagar is drained here, say residents, pointing to the callous response from the civic authorities.

In Kilpauk, V Narsimhan is forced to walk through knee-deep water every time he has to step out. “It has been two days since the civic agency or the highways department cleared stagnated water. We approached all departments. Poonamallee High Road is in the heart of the city and major hospitals are located here. Sewage is getting mixed with rainwater and can become a major health hazard,” he said.

Residents of neighbourhoods in many other areas including Velachery, Choolaimedu, Adyar, Vadapalani, KK Nagar, Choolai and Arumbakkam were also struggling on Friday.

Senthil Kumar from Choolai said that apart from water stagnation residents of the area were also without power. “There is no action from any department,” he said.

Greater Chennai Corporation officials, however, continued to maintain that only 58 locations had water stagnation issues. “Of them, we have cleared 54 so far,” said deputy commissioner (works) Meghanath Reddy. He added that each area had a specific problem. “Once we clear all the complaints, we will do a detailed analysis on the reasons for water stagnation in these neighbourhoods and resolve them permanently,” he said.

Roads at Dharan Singh Colony in Vadapalani and Jai Nagar in Arumbakkam had up to one feet of water, leading to traffic snarls. “While all main roads are inundation free, these interior roads are in very bad shape,” said Senthil Kumar, a resident of Choolai.

Residents of areas on the outskirts too faced the same problem. In places like Iyyapanthangal, Zamin Pallavaram and neighbourhoods in the western suburbs, water had not drained off.

At Kaatupakkam in Tiruvallur district, volunteers had to wade through knee-deep water to supply food and groceries to residents.

“In Mudichur too, residents preferred staying indoors and wanted us to provide them with rations and other supplies,” said an official with Tambaram municipality.