Water stagnation spots in city down to 3 from 300

According to Corporation data, the city had 306 vulnerable locations, of which 37 spots (water stagnation above 5 feet) had very high vulnerability and 84 locations had high vulnerability (3 to 5 feet). As many as 184 locations recorded water stagnation less than 2 feet (low vulnerability). “Due to several flood mitigation works we brought the number of vulnerable water stagnation locations to 19 in 2019. Construction of missing link storm water drains, flood canals and desilting played a major part in the improvement,” L Nandhakumar, Chief Engineer (General), Chennai Corporation, said.

He added that the restoration of water bodies also helped in reducing inundation. Out of the 210 water bodies taken up for restoration works, 133 were completed while restoration works on 50 is under way and the remaining water bodies are awaiting funds, he said.

As per the data, the city had 205 vulnerable spots in 2017 and in 2018, the city had 53. All the 19 water stagnation spots recorded in 2019 were low vulnerability with less than 2 feet inundation. Due to the mitigation measures carried out, the civic body now anticipates water stagnation in only three spots.

Based on the reports given by the monitoring officers appointed during the earlier monsoon seasons, the civic body had identified missing links between two existing drains. Also, works were taken up for 196 km under capital fund, Chennai Mega City Development Mission Fund, Smart City Fund and others.

As part of flood mitigation works, the Chennai Corporation resettled 17,768 slum families, who were encroaching the banks of Cooum river, Adyar river and other canals. As per the records, the civic body is yet to resettle 9,069 slum families. “By deploying modern machineries, the carrying capacity of the major water carrying channels have been increased to 100%, which was not done earlier,” the official said. Also, to avoid the repeat of 2015 flooding, the Corporation has instructed the PWD, which maintains Chembarambakkam lake, Korattur Lake, Puzhal Lake, to alert the civic body about releasing of surplus water to Adyar and Cooum rivers.

Weather experts have predicted that TN will see moderate rainfall and thunderstorms over the following week as a depression is expected to form in the Bay of Bengal on October 19. All parts of Chennai are expected to see mild to moderate rains at this time, they added. “A low-pressure area is likely to form over East-Central Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman Sea on October 19 and will become more marked in the subsequent 24 hours. It is likely to take a west-northwest direction towards the Andhra coast. The Chennai sky will remain cloudy,” said S Balachandran, director, RMC, Chennai.