Tamil Nadu’s recent relentless rains have completely left the State’s northern districts such as Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Cuddalore battered and reeling under the worst floods in 100 years, leaving over 280 dead and more than 1,000 injured. There are about 3,500 people, including people from Jharkhand stranded at the Chennai International Airport, which has been closed till December 6.
Anushree lingesh, a native of Ranchi who is currently working as a Software Engineer at one of the top IT companies in Chennai narrates her plight. “On November 16, we woke up to flooded roads and incessant rain that battered our entire house. My husband is in the United States for an on-site project for the past two months. I was supposed to join him on Christmas but who knew we would be caught up in this devastating floodIJ My one-year-old daughter hasn’t even thrown any tantrums since the time we were rescued by five NGO members and has been eating whatever is being fed to her. We have been waiting at the airport now and I want to reach New York at the earliest. Watching the visuals of a flooded city on your television is completely different from living in it. I have no clue what happened to our home and the cars. I couldn’t find my pet parrots and didn’t even have the chance to find them. My heart is broken and my daughter is not even talking and looks so scared,” said lingesh. Another 27-year-old native from Ratu Road, Ranchi, Prashant Gupta, who resided in South Chennai, recounts his ordeal.
“I thought I was hearing screams and children crying in my dreams but woke up to only find it to be true. Then came a loud knock on my door and it was an uncle from my neighbourhood who had come to rescue me in a boat. I live on the second floor in Velachery and I could just step out of the door and sit in the boat along with others from my neighbourhood. I had no time to think or even react and grabbed my necessities and rushed out. People were paranoid outside and children were constantly crying because of the fear. Every now and then, there’s some big tree or a huge pole that would topple over and injured people. There’s no power supply anywhere. Many individuals who are in the safer zones having thrown open their homes for people like us who have come here from other states. I am putting up at the IT Park premises that also does not have any power supply but fortunately, have clean drinking water and some food from the relief teams. I would want to get on a flight and reach home at the earliest and then, can think of continuing work,” said Gupta.
Meanwhile, Ujjwal Kumar from Namkum, an IT student studying in one of the reputed colleges in the city has been stranded at the Chennai Central station for the past 10 days, waiting to come home. “We are stuck here at the station along with thousands of people from all walks of life. Though, the situation is worse and only going to get worse in the near future, till the time water recedes. There’s a fight for survival, food, clean water and even using the toilets. Defecation in the open is taking place with no options left for children. Several NGOs and rescue groups, including Indian Army has come forward to help us. There’s increasing unhygienic condition at the station and the crowd is swelling up with each passing hour. I simply pray for our rescue and to reach home safely,” said Kumar.
However, there is still no concrete figure to identify the number of people stranded in Chennai currently, leave aside any evacuation plans in place for the worried lot, according to Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister.
“We are still trying to identify people from Jharkhand stranded in Chennai flood and shall soon reach a conclusion on the same. Already, the Centre and Tamil Nadu Government is taking care of the situation and if needed, we would provide evacuation support to our people, too,” said Kumar.