The rain has stopped in Chennai, but life is still difficult for the people as many parts of the city is still submerged under water, preventing the supplies of essentials to the stranded residents.
"Waterlogging continues to be there. The only mercy was that there were no rains," Viswanath, a local resident, told IANS.
The water in the Adyar River, which was overflowing, has been released into the Chembarambakkam lake.
Meanwhile, Southern Railways have announced special trains to Tirunelveli, Rameswaram and Howrah from Chennai Beach station.
The power supply has been restored in the areas where water had receded, but the places that are still under water are yet to get the power supply. The state authorities have not been able to restore telecommunication lines – landline and mobile.
The massive rains and the flooding caused by it resulted in property loss as water overflowed from rivers and reservoirs and entered into hundreds of apartments, houses, markets, shopping malls, offices and educational institutions.
It led to the deaths of at least 269 people, while thousands of people are displaced and are living in relief camps. More than 1.64 lakh people have been shifted to 460 camps in Chennai, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the crisis in Chennai a national disaster and sought Rs 5,000 crore as relief fund. However, Modi who took stock of the flood situation in Chennai on Thursday announced an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 crore.
The torrential rains on Tuesday submerged several parts of the city and even the International airport was flooded. Several flights were cancelled and passengers were stranded at the airport. They were later rescued.
The airport has been shut down till 12 Noon on 6 December.
The Indian Army, Navy and National, and State Disaster Response Forces carried out rescue operations and rescued thousands of stranded residents on Thursday. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that over 41.95 lakh food packets were distributed to people and water bottles and food were dropped by helicopters to people in apartments.
Chennai has been battling heavy rains since early November due to a low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal. The floods have also killed 54 in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and two in Puducherry.
