Army tries to rescue Indians hit by flooding
Print Edition
The Indian military evacuated more than 2,000 residents stranded in the southern state of Tamil Nadu yesterday as the death toll from flooding rose to 269 after the heaviest cloudburst in over a century.
Forecasts of more rain over the next 48 hours forced the army to work on a war footing to rescue survivors trapped in inundated parts of Chennai.
India’s fourth most populous city saw only slight rains yesterday, but water levels had not receded since a day earlier, when a massive release of water from a brimming reservoir swamped low-lying areas of the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has blamed climate change for the deluge, traveled to Chennai to get a first-hand view of a rescue effort that has so far been halting.
“The government will stand by the people of Tamil Nadu in their hour of need,” Modi said, promising US$150 million for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Even as the weather cleared, waters rose in many residential areas, fed by spills from 35 lakes that have risen to dangerous levels.
After auto manufacturers and IT outsourcing firms suspended operations on Wednesday, state-run Chennai Petroleum shut down its 210,000-barrels-per-day oil refinery. The cloudburst earlier this week dumped as much as 345 millimeter of rain over 24 hours.
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