On December 4, 2023, more than 50% of the buildings were flooded at Varadharajapuram on the Outer Ring Road, south-west of the core city. Among them were a public library, a fair price shop and an e-seva centre. Library books were damaged; the essential items meant for public distribution were dumped in a pit. Cyclone Michaung had eroded roads, damaged infrastructure, flooded 1,500 homes, affecting the lives and livelihood of about 20,000 residents. One month after the cyclone, residents have started a campaign to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure, demanding that the government make the area flood-resilient. This initiative sets an example for other residents, as various departments have started discussing resilient reconstruction projects after the floods in the Chennai Metropolitan Area.
V. Rajasekaran, president of the Federation of Varadharajapuram Welfare Associations, said the residents had resolved to campaign for reconstruction of infrastructure to improve resilience. “We met the IIT representative on the Tiruppugazh committee on flood mitigation on January 11, requesting a suggestion for an alternative route to divert water from the Chembarambakkam lake. We demanded desilting of the lake; construction of a retaining wall along the Adyar; an increase in the height of the existing wall by 4 feet; and setting up of sewage treatment plants along the river. We demanded cement concrete roads, and redesigning of the Outer Ring Road bridge across the Adyar. We need more funds for roads, parks, and drains.”
Audit of the damage
Seven weeks after the floods at Thoraipakkam in ward 193 of the Greater Chennai Corporation, residents conducted an audit of the damaged infrastructure, pointing to the delay in repairing minor damage. A. Francis, president of the Federation of Thoraipakkam Residents’ Welfare Associations, said the play area in the Anand Nagar Park had been out of bounds for children for 54 days because of the delay in removal of slush accumulated during the floods. “Senior citizens have stopped visiting the park after the floods,” he said. Many residents of the area around the Pallikaranai marsh, in the vicinity of the Information Technology Corridor, have demanded resilient reconstruction projects based on public consultations.
Starting January 25, area sabha meetings are held in 2,000 localities, covering 426 square kilometres of the Chennai Corporation and other local bodies in the Chennai Metropolitan Area. Residents want to discuss resilient reconstruction projects at these meetings. Even as funds for many of the resilient reconstruction projects have not been sanctioned yet, Corporation officials said work on civic infrastructure was expected to be taken up in a few weeks with the civic body’s own resources. External funding for long-term projects is expected to be sanctioned in a few months. Corporation Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan has ordered officials to restore roads, drains, and other infrastructure damaged in the floods before implementing major projects to improve resilience.
“We will construct shutter-cum-pumping arrangements at 150 locations to mitigate flooding,” said Corporation Chief Engineer S. Rajendiran. When Gagandeep Singh Bedi was the Commissioner, the Corporation had implemented such projects to successfully mitigate flooding, based on the themes of Singara Chennai 2.0 that intends to give priority to ecology, culture, lifestyle, and infrastructure. The purpose of Singara Chennai 2.0, launched in 2021 by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, was to redesign and redevelop Chennai as a global destination for liveability and sustainability. After Cyclone Michaung, residents have demanded changes in the projects proposed on the basis of the Singara Chennai 2.0 themes — city beautification; heritage; culture and arts; accessibility and inclusivity; education, health, and wellness; transport and mobility; e-governance and innovation; and rethinking urban spaces.
Tussle over eco-park
The residents at the area sabha meetings have been demanding projects for resilient reconstruction. For instance, the tussle between the residents’ associations and the Corporation on the issue of the eco-park on 100 acres of the Perungudi dump in the Pallikaranai marsh has intensified after the cyclone. While the Corporation has adopted the ‘urban forestry concept with wetland and mounds’ to assuage the residents’ fears about flood mitigation, residents have demanded the removal of all encroachments in the marsh and its restoration.
“Residents were vocal in demanding the complete restoration of the Pallikaranai marsh and Velachery lake at the area sabha meeting held on January 25,” said S. Kumararaja, of Save Pallikaranai Marshland. “The entire Pallikaranai marsh should be declared a protected area under the Forest Act. All the legal and illegal encroachments should be removed from the marsh, as ordered by the National Green Tribunal,” he said.
A successful implementation of the eco-park project at the Perungudi dump depends on the outcome of a public consultation to be held in a few weeks. Even as the Corporation has claimed that the project would restore the ecological balance of the Pallikaranai marsh and the park would serve as a regional biosphere, residents have rejected the idea, demanding that the entire marsh be restored to prevent floods in the vicinity of the IT Corridor.
At ‘Chennai Rains and Waterlogging Datajam-2024’, held on January 8, participants suggested that the government publish all land records to ensure no marsh and waterbodies are encroached upon or used for infrastructure development; conduct flood-mapping; and shift people living in flood-prone areas to safer zones.
Residents of the other local bodies in the Chennai Metropolitan Area have sought flood mitigation projects such as construction of ‘shutter-cum-pumping arrangement’ along waterways, canals, and drains. They have demanded reconstruction of hospitals, schools, parks, and Amma canteens damaged during the southeast monsoon and Cyclone Michaung. Unusually, Chennai received a huge amount of rain during the southeast monsoon of 2023. K. Dhana Sekaran, chairman, Chennai Corporation Standing Committee (Accounts), said the civic body started issuing tenders for reconstruction of damaged schools in areas like Nesapakkam, after shifting students to other schools. “The school at Nesapakkam was damaged in frequent spells of rain in 2023 before the cyclone. All the students have been shifted to other schools. The reconstruction will start soon,” he said.
M. Harish, a resident of Srinivasa Nagar at Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam, says improvements to the concrete side-walls of Veerangal Odai and closure of small channels created for rainwater to drain from the low-level localities of Srinivasa Nagar into the Odai would help to mitigate floods.
Residents pointed out that several pipes laid beneath the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road for evacuating rainwater from the north to the south of the marsh had been blocked with concrete debris. “If they had been desilted properly, the rainwater would have flowed to the southern side and finally into the Buckingham Canal. A canal should be built within the marsh at the northern side near the Velachery railway station,” a resident added.
Corporation officials said the work was expected to resume shortly on storm water drains in residential areas of the Kosasthalaiyar basin in north Chennai and the Kovalam basin in south Chennai. The work on relaying of 4,000 roads is expected to be taken up shortly.
Roads damaged at 651 locations
Roads to a length of 2,587.88 km, belonging to the Highways Department, have been damaged at 651 locations in the impact of Cyclone Michaung in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, and Chengalpattu districts, officials said. “Many roads have taken a hit owing to water-logging and incessant rain. The top-wearing coat of the roads has been washed away or shrunk and vehicles go on the damaged surfaces. Potholes have also developed. The repairs need to be done urgently,” said an official. The restoration cost of the highways is pegged at ₹1,500 crore.
Stressing the need for futuristic interventions for resilient reconstruction, Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) Special Officer I. Jeyakumar said the recommendations from the JICA-funded flood mapping by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) would be helpful in resilient reconstruction of transport infrastructure in the Chennai Metropolitan Area, which has more than 15 million residents.
The Water Resources Department (WRD) has started repairing the damage caused during the floods. It had sought ₹30 crore for repairs to the damaged structures in waterbodies and the breached waterways. Intense rain in December last year caused damage to major reservoirs in Red Hills and Cholavaram and weakened the bunds of waterbodies, including those at Narayanapuram, Orathur, and Sekkadu. The vulnerable stretches of waterways like the Adyar, the Kosasthalaiyar, and the Araniyar had breached during the floods.
Plans for restoration
Officials said work was carried out to fix the problems immediately as part of the flood-relief measures. Funds have been partially sanctioned for the projects carried out recently. The WRD has chalked out proposals for restoration of the waterbodies and waterways in Chennai and neighbouring districts. A government order is expected to be issued in a few days approving projects worth ₹350 crore to permanently restore the flood-affected waterbodies and stretches of rivers.
Sewers and water pipelines were also severely affected during the torrential rain. The water agency had submitted a report to the Central team that had visited the city to assess the damage. It had sought ₹69 crore to repair the waterlines and the sewers. The sewers had carried more than double the normal load of 540 million litres a day of sewage during the intense rainfall. This led to the collapse of the collection system and pipe bursts at various locations. Sewers covering a distance of nearly 72,000 metres were flushed and nearly 5,630 damaged maintenance holes were replaced. Pipelines that were dislocated were repaired and various facilities were dewatered. Water is supplied through other routes in some areas until the old lines are repaired.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited and the Chennai Corporation have started identifying damage to the old arch drains at Metro Rail construction sites for construction of new drains.
K. Kumar, visiting faculty member at the School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, and former Chief Planner, CMDA, said capital asset management after resilient reconstruction was a vital aspect of urban development planning and management.
“Urban infrastructure such as paved road networks, bridges, and flyovers underperform during floods if these assets aren’t kept in good fettle. For example, a paved road would deteriorate in the absence of storm water drains that are inseparable elements of urban roads. Good to see that the Chennai Corporation has identified road links that don’t have the storm water drains and is providing them on priority. A cambered road with a well maintained storm water drain will not be a liability but an asset during monsoon floods. A stagnant water sheet can render the throughput of even a six-lane road to just two-lane capacity, resulting in avoidable traffic snarls. In the same way, canals and rivers can discharge flood excesses effectively if the flood plains are kept clear of any impediment,” he said.
“Those residents who are essentially encroachments in the river bed or flood plains affected by the floods can be accommodated in makeshift camps or disaster management shelters temporarily and the area can be improved by land readjustment design or tenemental buildings for rehabilitating them back. The focus of stocktake meetings after floods mustn’t be limited to picking and choosing hurriedly some quick-fix solutions to please the political bosses but to go to the root of the malaise and remedy it so that recurrence of the predicament is minimised, if not eliminated,” he said.
(With inputs from K. Lakshmi, R. Srikanth, Deepa H.Ramakrishnan, R. Aishwaryaa, Sunitha Sekar, and Aloysius Xavier Lopez.)
