Velachery, Madipakkam inundated for 2nd time this week

Velachery, Madipakkam inundated for 2nd time this week

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.11.2021

The respite from Sunday’s rains was shortlived for residents of several neighbourhoods in Velachery, suburban Madipakkam, Puzhuthivakkam, Adambakkam and surrounding areas as they once again woke up to flooded streets on Thursday. Water entered the ground floor of several houses in low lying areas.

While main roads were not entirely flooded, some stretches along Madipakkam Main Road, Sabari Salai and Velachery Main Road had more than 4ft of water, making commuting in vehicles difficult.

Traffic movement was cut off on a small stretch of Puzhuthivakkam Main Road near the Corporation Zone 14 office and cars from low lying areas in Madipakkam and Velachery were back on the flyover on Thursday.

Interior roads and low-lying residential neighbourhoods bore the brunt of the rain. In Velachery, Ram Nagar, AGS Colony, Dhandeeswaram, Tansi Nagar, Vijayanagar, Selva Nagar, Bhuvaneswari Nagar were completely inundated.

“Some of us took refuge in neighbour’s houses on the first floor. Authorities had stationed boats and rescued the elderly and those willing to move to safety,” said K Ramanathan of AGS Colony.

Residents of Otteri Salai, Nethaji Street and New India Colony Road in Puzhuthivakkam and Ram Nagar (north) in Madipakkam were among the worst affected as water entered the ground floor of several homes. “Authorities did a poor job by not overseeing contractors, who take up storm water drain work. The drains were not deep enough and hence their water carrying capacity was reduced, leading to flooding. There has to be some kind of accountability,” said M Patel, a software engineer who stays in Otteri Salai.

Officials said water from most areas was diverted to nearby waterbodies —Madipakkam lake and Puzhuthivakkam lake, but the houses which are below the road level were inundated. “The problem in these areas is that storm water drains from several areas are diverted through these channels to drain into Pallikaranai marsh. In case of heavy rain, the capacity of the drain is exceeded and water starts seeping out from manholes too,” an official with zone 14 said.