As soon as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came to power in May 2021, many of its leaders promised that they would rebuild Chennai city’s infrastructure in a way that flooding due to incessant rains, reminiscent of the deluge in December 2015, would be a thing of the past.
Even during the next two monsoons, DMK supporters on social media were quick to point out the good work done by the party’s members of legislative assembly the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in ensuring that the water doesn’t inundate the streets and roads as it happened during former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s regime in 2015.
Also read | Floods and a ‘preventive measure’ that needs review
In recent months, a lot of spotlight had been given to the ₹4,000 crore-worth (now contested) of storm water drains, which would put Chennai in good stead unlike the rains in December 2015. However, the torrential rains in the first week of December 2023 showed that the work on storm water drains, flooding and inundation for days clearly meant all was not well.
Many factors have been cited as reasons for floods in early December 2023. The Hindu spoke to MLAs of constituencies across the city that witnessed heavy flooding, or where the flood waters drained quickly, in an attempt to understand what exactly went wrong and what the solutions are.
The 2015 Chennai floods changed the image of T. Nagar as the city’s primary shopping district, exposing its pitiable infrastructure, which was unable to prevent free-flowing water ravaging the shops and flooding of nearby neighbourhoods such as West Mambalam were inundated with water for more than a week prompting people to come out and protest.
Eight years since, while many things have changed, flooding continues to remain a problem. To the State government’s credit, management of reservoirs prevented prolonged flooding of the roads in low lying areas, and flood waters clearaed on the main roads after the rains stopped, but flooding on the inner roads meant that resumption of power took longer.
Velachery
Velachery, which is increasingly becoming an upscale locality in Chennai despite the traffic issues thanks to its proximity to the so-called IT corridor of Chennai, was marooned with hundreds in the high rises forced to use boats to get to safety. Though he was there in the field and helping the people, Velchary MLA Aassan Maulaana, JMH didn’t help himself when he candidly quipped to a social media news channel that people have to accept the effects of rains and nothing can be done about it.
Predictably, social media users collectively decried his insensitivity. Meeting The Hindu in his office, Mr. Maulaana admitted that he shouldn’t have said what he said, but added that he doesn’t see the situation greatly improving without removing the encroachments along canals and other areas where the water is supposed to flow into the river. Tansi Nagar, Baby Nagar, Bharathy Nagar, Vijaynagar, AGS Nagar and few others areas were severely flooded, leading up to Pallikaranai, which was, again like December 2015, was once again flooded leaving people stranded in their terraces.
“80% of the water drained on the third day,” the Velachery MLA claimed.
He said: “The water flowing into the canals filled it, which made it impossible for it to receive more water through the storm water drains. Chembarambakkam lake was managed well, but how can water flow into the canal when the canal is full and the sea doesn’t receive the water?”
Mr. Maulaana said that he was using a motor to pump out the water from the canal so that water from the storm water drains flowed into the canals. “We couldn’t do anything else. We have to widen all our canals significantly and remove all encroachments. For Velachery in particular, we need to construct a waterway that connects Velachery to the sea directly,” he said. He also suggested that the height of the Pallikaranai marshland should be reduced which would enable the water from the nearby areas to flow into the marshland instead of flowing into the Velachery neighbourhoods. “Time has also come to reclaim all the water bodies of Velachery,” he said.
T. Nagar
T. Nagar’s MLA J. Karunanithi, who is also the brother of well-known former DMK leader J. Anbazhagan, said that he managed to keep the Doraisamy subway clear by using 100 HP motors once rain relented. “We have to quickly implement the next phase of construction. The water flooding happened in usual points in Lake View road and a few other areas. These have become collecting points for the water. We have to connect the remaining drains to the Reddy Kuppam canal,” he said.
Mr. Karunanithi said all the drains can handle only 10-15 centimetres of rain. “We will decide about the next phase of construction in the Ward committee meeting and we will also present our point of view to the Thirupugazh Committee,” he added.
Also read: Making sense of the 2023 Chennai floods: A comparison with 2020, 2021 and 2015 | Data
Saidapet
As for the Saidapet Constituency, its MLA, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian, said the slum areas such as Thideer Nagar and Gotha Medu were flooded due to the overwash from the Adyar River. “The mouth of the river was widened earlier, but as the sea did not receive the stormwater, there was inundation. There were no recommendations in the report on dealing with floods due to surplus flow from canals and rivers and backlash from the sea. Chennai can handle 20 cm of rain. From December 1 to 5, as much as 50 cm of rainfall was recorded, which is a 47-year high,” he said.
The Minister stated: “The Water Resources Department installed Rs 120-130 crore-worth drains in Semmancheri by following the report’s suggestion; hence the excess from 65 canals could be drained down in 1.5 days. Earlier, it took a week to drain.”
Egmore
Egmore MLA I. Paranthamen, one of the well-known talking heads on television defending the State government and DMK, and whose videos of being confronted by angry constituents surfaced, reiterated that storm water drains worked but flooding remained as the Cooum river was unable to quickly discharge water into the sea.
Egmore constituency houses all sections of the society — the very affluent sections of the society, middle classes and the lower middle income group in Puliyanthope areas. “During the last rains, LG road, Montieth road were bad. Now, storm water drains quickly cleared the water....the same was the case in Adhithanaar Salai, near the Museum and Don Bosco schools. But, this time, rains were extremely heavy and Koovum river was filled,” Mr. Paranthamen said.
When asked why Puliyanthope and surrounding areas are still struggling from flooding for many years repeatedly, Mr. Paranthamen said: “In Puliyanthope area, we have to deepen the canal and build a wall along. If we had not constructed the Storm Water Drains, water would have taken a longer time to recede.”
Ambattur
Heavy rainfall during Cyclone Michaung brought the Ambattur Industrial Estate to a halt leaving hundreds of MSMSs shut for days together due to overflow from nearby lakes. Run off from Avadi and Poonamalle areas to Ambattur is said to have added to the overflow of the lake. Joseph Samuel, Ambattur MLA, said the supply channel from Ambattur lake to Korattur should be branched out to Cooum to reduce flooding in Estate areas.
In addition to this, Mr. Samuel said, two priority measures must be taken. One is the desilting and widening of Korattur lake and the widening of North Canal, which, he said, is not uniform in width throughout. “It is narrow near Lucas and in the continuity of this in Villivakkam 100 ft road. They have to be broadened,” he said. Notably, the Korattur subway was inundated for six days after the cyclone passed Chennai. The second is the construction of a bridge in Padi Kuppam which was damaged in the 2015 floods, Mr. Samuel added.
Avadi
With 56 cm of rain between December 4 and 5, Avadi was one of the places in the city that received the highest rainfall. Saraswati Nagar and Jyothi Nagar near Avadi were inundated for over three days. “We will desilt storm water drains in these places to avoid stagnation next time”, said S. Nasar, MLA of Avadi assembly constituency.
“In 2021, it rained 20 centimetres. CM came to inspect Sriram Nagar, Paruthipattu, Ambedkar Nagar, saw the flooded places and gave ₹37 crore. With that, we built drains to let the rainwater into Cooum. Because of this, there was no major stagnation in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, Avadi this time,” he said.
Maduravoyal
According to K. Ganapathy, Maduravoyal MLA, the Porur junction — usually a problem area during the monsoon -— drained in two days after the rain due to the precautionary measures taken. However, torrential rain during Cyclone Michaung left Officers’ Colony, and areas in Valasaravakkam such as SVS Nagar, Jaya Nagar, Subramaniya Swamy Nagar heavily inundated for over four days. “These are all eri areas. It has to be understood that there was non-stop rain for 24 hours, more than in 2015. Storm water drains needed to be desilted properly,” said Mr. Ganapathy.
One of the recommendations from Thiruppugazh committee was improvement of channels from Porur lake via Manapakkam, Gerugambakkam, and Kolapakkam to Adyar river, the MLA said, adding that once this is done, flooding in these areas will reduce.
Kolathur
An official source linked to Kolathur constituency claimed: “As per the recommendation from the Thiruppugazh report, stormwater drain works worth ₹80 crore for 16 km is to be installed, and the restoration of the Thanikachalam Nagar drain in Madhavaram for an estimated ₹91.36 crore will be done in 18 months. Since the water flows down from Ambattur and Kodungaiyur also flows down to this drain, the work must be carried out as per legal standards and procedure.”
Before Cyclone Michaung, a stormwater drain was constructed in 27 nagars in the constituency, including Selvi Nagar, Rajaji Nagar, Valarmathi Nagar, parts of Ambattur, and Sathyamoorthy Nagar, and all missing links were connected, the source mentioned.
Emphasising that normalcy was restored in Kolathur two days after the heavy rains, he enlisted the measures taken during and after Cyclone Michaung, the source stated: As temporary relief, debris was repurposed to repair roads, 60 medical camps were held before rains, and 80 after, five private agency medical camps were also conducted post the cyclone daily, 1.5 lakh milk packets were distributed for free, three kitchens were run in the constituency since December 4 through which nearly 35,000 were provided food, and 40,000 packages consisting of food, 5kg rice, and water, using MLA funds were distributed in the constituency.
Virugambakkam
In Virugambakkam, an area that is known to flood after every heavy rainfall, water entered houses in Chinmaya Nagar and low-lying streets off the Kaliamman Kovil street. “Widening the Virugambakkam canal would be a huge project and I am going to raise the issue in the next Assembly,” said A.M.V. Prabhakara Raja, Virugambakkam MLA.
Currently, the Water Resources Department is in the process of demarcating the boundaries of the canal as it has shrunk in size in many places such as Arumbakkam due to encroachments. According to Mr. Raja, thousands of families will be affected and it would be a herculean task for the government to provide them housing.
Presenting a sobering view, he said: “All the mistakes have already been made. Chennai cannot handle more than 20 centimetre rainfall, no matter how well the storm water drains and canals are desilted. How will the sea take in all the water? In that case, a reservoir needs to be built near the beach.”
Tiruvottiyur
Tiruvottiyur MLA Shankar, K.P of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), said the 50-year-old brick SWD was reconstructed in his tenure, and the infrastructure was newly added in over 25 streets between wards 71 to 76 in Zone 6. “Following the CM’s visit this year, drains on Pulianthope Highway road were also fixed. The Munusamy Canal, where complaints of dumping have been raised, has come to our notice. Efforts to raise a net barricade surrounding this were approved and will be done soon along with officials of the neighbouring constituency,” the MLA added.
Thiru Vi Ka Nagar
Thiru Vi Ka Nagar MLA Thayagam Kavi P. of DMK, indicating that the SWD work was fully completed there, said works are underway for a survey of damages post the cyclone and constructing stormwater drain pumping stations at Beach Road and Kasi Viswanathan Kovil, as per recommendation from the Thiruppugazh report.
He also said that in his constituency, with a population of 3.25 lakh, 15 boats were sent to inundated areas for relief worth ₹2 crore was distributed with funds from Tamil Nadu Transport Minister S. S. Sivasankar and Minister of Forests M. Mathiventhan during heavy rains on December 4 and 5. “Further, measures are taken to support the people in four wards in Manali in regaining normalcy,” Mr. Kavi told The Hindu.
Tambaram
Raja,S.R., the MLA for Tambaram constituency claimed that a tender was put out 20 days ago to install a pipeline along Mudichur Road in Tambaram, from the Peerkankaranai area to TTK Nagar, for an estimated ₹90 crore, sanctioned recently. The project is with the Authority and has to be passed on to WRD, he claimed. Moreover, the SWD in Agaram Road within Tambaram limits and in Kovilanchery are yet to come up, he mentioned.
He added that as relief, during the inundation, the MLA supported by providing six lorries to transport six boats from Kovalam and Neelankarai ensured accommodation for over 150 in a private community hall on Mudichur Road and for about 400 in Perungalathur and in Tambaram Corporation school in Karadipalayam.
