Chennai is being pounded by the worst rains in nearly a century, with a fresh bout of heavy downpour over the last few days leaving most parts of the city under water. Several parts of the state of Tamil Nadu are also being lashed by torrential rains, with the number of deaths rising to 188.
Daily life in the city came to a grinding halt, as flights to the city were suspended yesterday after the Chennai airport's runways were flooded with water. This has left nearly 4,000 people stranded at the airport, which will remain closed today as well, with rains forecast for the next few days. Around 19 trains were also cancelled due to flooding of rail tracks. With most roads being waterlogged, schools have been closed and scheduled exams postponed.
Chennai Airport remains shut. Please tell your friends to postpone non-essential travel or make road arrangements. pic.twitter.com/n4ketfLGWe— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) December 2, 2015
WATCH: As water enters homes in low-lying areas of Anna Nagar, locals rescue themselves #chennairains pic.twitter.com/Q1E9rMAAl5— ANI (@ANI_news) December 2, 2015
The army, navy and the National Disaster Reponse have been called to carry out rescue operations in the city's suburbs. Numerous cinema halls and malls stayed open on Tuesday night to offer shelter to stranded people. One of the city's oldest newspapers, The Hindu, chose not to bring out its print edition, which many claim hasn't ever happened since it started in 1878.
With no print edition for Chennai City because of the #ChennaiRains, read the entire edition online here! https://t.co/GcKsYIqRX3— Malini Parthasarathy (@MaliniP) December 2, 2015
Amidst the floods, people having been using social media to streamline relief and rescue efforts. On Twitter, locals have been sending SOS messages seeking rescue from their flooded homes, using hashtags such as #ChennaiRains, #ChennaiFloods and #ChennaiRainsHelp. Others have opened their homes to strangers, offering shelter, food, and even mobile recharges, a reponse similar to #PorteOuverte -- the open door campaign started by Parisians soon after the deadly terrorist attacks in the city last month.
Here's a list of specific hashtags you can use during #ChennaiRains pic.twitter.com/NxIpYgFbAj— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) December 2, 2015
250 students @ kollapakam lalaji memorial school in desperate need of boats fr rescue. Please help ! #chennairains pic.twitter.com/ope9NHeUdq— Prashanth (@itisprashanth) December 2, 2015
The least i can i do is recharge some phone numbers. Let me know. #ChennaiRainsHelp— juni (@juneymb) December 1, 2015
Many local celebrities also took to Twitter to offer help in the form of transport and food.
It's official. We're now a disaster zone!Army deployed. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOME. it's going to get MUCH WORSE! God show mercy on us. #TNflood— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) December 1, 2015
If you can organise food packets in chennai please contact me. We will have it picked up and delivered. Batches of 50-100 packets. #TNflood— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) December 2, 2015
Please use hashtag #ChennaiMicro for food parcel pickup information. It will be easier for our team to respond. Thanks. @rj_balaji— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) December 2, 2015
Horrific rains In chennai my heart really goes out to everyone there :( please pass this on !!! pic.twitter.com/8nbNJSB6S5— shruti haasan (@shrutihaasan) December 1, 2015
Some residents have also launched crowsourced efforts such as a Google spreadsheet that lists the people and places offering shelter and website to report and map flooded streets in the city. Google India has also activated its crisis reponse for the Chennaii floods.
Flood map is back up. 2100+ inundated streets reported https://t.co/5UTIFI7Ryb #chennairains file any issues here: https://t.co/gKvdzTcCwS— Arun Ganesh (@planemad) December 2, 2015
Crisis Response has activated for the #ChennaiFloods, we've published official + crowdsourced flood resources here https://t.co/zc8wSVGvmH— GoogleCrisisResponse (@GoogleCR) December 2, 2015
In November, non-stop rains caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal had flooded the city and parts of Tamil Nadu. According to India's Met department, heavy rains will continue over the next four days.
