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Tamil Nadu
Commuters stranded
Riding or floating? A chaotic road scene near the Chromepet police station on Thursday.
TAMBARAM: Heavy rain in the southern suburbs of Chennai on Thursday evening affected train and bus services leaving several hundred commuters stranded in different places in and around Tambaram. Arterial roads in many places came under knee-deep water making it difficult for motorists, particularly two-wheeler riders.
Nearly all the railway tracks used by suburban electric trains at the Tambaram Railway Station were submerged and as a result, EMU services were affected for more than an hour in the evening. Commuters trapped inside the trains near the Chromepet and Pallavaram stations said that they could see at least six trains lined up one behind the other between these two stations. Hence, gates at the railway level crossings at these spots could not be opened, trapping vehicles.
Southern Railway officials attributed the delay in the movement of services to the problem at the Tambaram station. They said that movement of express and long distance trains were not affected as the problem did not spill over to platform numbers 8 and 9.
After most of the trains bound for the southern districts had left, they diverted the electric trains to the platforms used normally by express trains running on the main lines.
The callers said that many commuters, including women, jumped off the compartments and walked across to Grand Southern Trunk in an attempt to board Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses to reach Tambaram. But, bus services were delayed owing to heavy water-logging on many stretches along Inner Ring Road and Grand Southern Trunk Road. Additional policemen were pressed for duty at bus stops in Chromepet, Pallavaram and Tambaram to prevent the swelling crowds from spilling on to the road.
Medavakkam Main Road was submerged all the way between Keelkattalai bus terminus and Madipakkam junction. It was the same case with Madipakkam - Velachery Link Road.
While officials could not immediately confirm, residents of Keelkattalai attributed the reason to breaches on lake bunds of some water bodies in the Keelkattalai - Madipakkam - Moovarasampettai belt. Many houses at Ram Nagar in Madipakkam were surrounded by water. For the 24 hours ending 6 a.m. on Thursday, Tambaram recorded a rainfall level of 78 mm.
Localities in West Tambaram, Anakaputhur, Pozhichalur, Pazhavanthangal among others came under knee-deep water owing to heavy rain in the morning. Labour Minister T.M. Anbarasan and Kancheepuram Collector Santhosh K. Misra visited Kannan Avenue and other places in Alandur Municipality where there was heavy water-logging, Keelkattalai in Pallavaram Municipality and a community hall in Sholinganallur, where about 800 people living in low-level areas of Thoraipakkam were shifted and accommodated. They also visited Pammal and Anakaputhur Municipalities before proceeding to Chembarambakkam.
Residents of Chromepet New Colony said that rainwater entered houses in 16th and 17th Cross, Elumalai Nagar and also those in Kakkalanchavady. Rainwater also entered Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital (Chromepet GH). Staff at the hospital shifted patients in the ground floor wards to the first floor.
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