Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Cyclone exposes chinks in civic body’s armour

— PHOTO: M.Karunakaran

UNDER WATER: A road in the flood-prone Taramani on Saturday.

CHENNAI: The impact of Cyclone Nisha has translated into damage amounting to Rs.20 crore on road and stormwater drain infrastructure in the city.

It affected normal life of 9.7 lakh persons living in the city. The facts were revealed in a preliminary assessment of the impact of the cyclone undertaken by the Chennai Corporation.

A final report on the damage will be submitted to the State government soon. This will be forwarded to the Central government to claim calamity relief grant.

Apart from the economic loss for the affected persons, which is yet to be assessed, water-logging has also affected thousands of residents who had to tolerate water entering their homes in the city.

Sources in the Regional Meteorological Department said that heavy rains were not unprecedented in the wake of the cyclone, warnings for which were issued to government agencies before it was announced to the public. The city received about 370 mm of rainfall in a span of 72 hours starting from Wednesday night. However, the scale of damage has raised questions about how equipped various government agencies were to deal with it. This considering disaster management is as much about taking pre-emptive measures to mitigate the impact of a disaster as it is about relief and rescue operations. Corporation sources reveal at several places stormwater drains collapsed as they were unable to withstand the heavy, continuous downpour.

Former Chief Urban Planner of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority G.Dattatri said that much of the stormwater drain infrastructure in the city was developed in a piece-meal manner. R.Arumugham, a resident of MMDA Colony, complained about an overflowing Virugambakkam canal filling roads in his locality. This canal like several other waterways in the city needs desilting, he said. Mr. Dattatri also pointed out that the PWD should take immediate steps to identify water outlets in the city and increase their carrying capacities. “To ensure that marriage halls and hotels don’t throw garbage into drains will also help us during flooding,” he said.

As for the damage done to suburbs in the city, Mr.Dattatri said that the local bodies did not have technical staff to manage the disaster. “There is need to strengthen them financially so that they need not always turn to para-statals for support,” he said.

S.Ramachandran, Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras, who is an expert in disaster management and oceanography, said that Chennai is vulnerable to cyclones . He pointed out that town planning authorities had not factored in this crucial detail while allowing development or encroachments rapidly in water catchment areas such as marshlands and lakes in the city. Mr.Ramachandran said, “The State Disaster Management Authority has so far concerned itself only with tsunami relief and rehabilitation. It should also pay attention to cyclone impact mitigation as they occur more frequently than the tsunami,” he said.

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