Suburbs hit hard by poor planning

The underground subway connecting East and West Tambaram was submerged, cutting off the easy access. Motorists had to take a 2-km detour to reach their destination, causing heavy traffic bottlenecks. While the subway was constructed by the Railways, it is maintained by the local administration. But when questioned, the departments blamed each other for failing to desilt the drains. 

In localities such as Mudichur, Pallavaram, Tambaram and Varadarajapuram, the situation was no different. Residents in Mudichur had to wade through 2-3 ft of water, which had inundated their localities. In Kishkinta Nagar in Tambaram, residents living in tenements had to leave their homes, as the Pappan Canal overflowed, flooding their homes. Close to 200 families had to leave their homes and reside with their relatives, until the flood water had receded. The residents claimed that no official visited them. 

EMU services on the Beach – Chengalpattu route were affected from 5pm Monday to 10 am on Tuesday, owing to the heavy downpour, mainly at Tambaram, where at least four platforms were closed due to flooding.

As crowd swelled on the operational four express platforms (5-8) after dusk, during peak hours of express traffic, the frequency of EMUs was reportedly reduced. While local trains to Beach Station ran every 30 minutes, the frequency was reduced to one hour on the Tambaram – Chengalpattu section. Regular travellers complained that the four platforms did not suffer such flooding even during the infamous December 2015 floods, attributing the instant flooding to poorly designed drain system on the four platforms (1-4), which were extended a couple of months ago. Several Tambaram-bound trains from Chengalpattu were stopped midway, again due to the water logging induced signal failure. Travellers accused the railway department of not intimating them of suspension of train services. Normalcy was restored, and EMUs ran as per usual schedule from 10pm on Tuesday.