Army has deployed nearly 500 soldiers for rescue and relief efforts in Chennai while the Navy has dispatched one of its amphibious carrier INS Airavat from Visakhapatnam to Chennai. Expected to reach there on Thursday morning, the ship is carrying 20 divers and swimmers, 15 boats, doctors and medicines.
The Navy has also deployed unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV) for real time reconnaissance of the situation while the IAF has pressed two C-17 big transport aircraft and three medium lift C-130Js to carrying National Disaster Relief Force(NDRF) besides relief material to flood ravaged city from all over the country.
In the first two days of rescue operations, the Army has rescued more than 2,400 people including some patients from a flooded hospital in Chennai and ferried them to safety. Moreover, more than 20 Army trucks are ferrying relief material to affected areas and Army engineers are working overtime to restore mobile phone connectivity by repairing towers, officials said here on Wednesday.
The NDRF is rushing about 600 personnel and over 40 inflatable boats for relief operations. To enable uninterrupted rescue effort as the Chennai airport and nearby Tambaram airbase of IAF is closed due to flooding, the Navy has opened its air base INS Rajali, Arakonam, which is about 70 km north-west of Chennai. The C-17s and C-130Js will land there and the NDRF personnel and equipment will be ferried to Chennai by road from there, officials said here on Wednesday. INS Rajali is base of P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the Navy.
Giving details of NDRF effort, its chief OP Singh said here on Wednesday 15 teams airlifted from Bhubaneswar and Delhi by the IAF, will land at INS Rajali and then fan out immediately to various places in Chennai on the instructions of local authorities. He also said two DIG Rank officers and a Commanding Officer of the NDRF are now stationed there to supervise operations.
Singh said the teams will be also be carrying some relief material with them so that people who cannot be evacuated could be replenished with essential items. The force has also activated two helpline numbers at its control room here--011-24363260, 09711077372, he said adding 11 teams, comprising 40 personnel in each, are already working in the Chennai region for relief and rescue operations.
Besides deploying its transport aircraft, the IAF has also pressed into service two MI-17 helicopters at its Tambaram airbase and two MI-17 moved from Tirupati to Chennai for relief and rescue operations.
Five Chetak helicopters are also operating from Tambaram, officials said adding four MI-17 (two at Bangalore and two at Nagpur) are on standby.
They said though the Tambaram base is flooded, helicopter flying can take place from there. The Chetaks are carrying out reconnaissance missions over the capital city. As Chennai airport is flooded and is not operational so far, it was decided that air fields of Arakkonam, Tirupati, Tambaram and Trichy be utilised for rescue and relief operations, officials said.
As regards the Navy, three flood relief teams comprising 20 sailors(five divers and 15 good swimmers) with special rubberized boats swing into action on Tuesday itself and returned to their base on Wednesday after rescuing 15 stranded people.
Moreover, as per civil authorities instructions, the Navy has placed some boats at their disposal for rescue missions besides putting all its ships in Chennai harbor on standby for rescuing fishermen if need be. The Navy is also monitoring the situation in neighbouring Puducherry which is also pounded rains.