Authorities near Chennai have sent back rain-affected families from a relief centre so that the school that was turned into a shelter can reopen, the families claim.
Latha Vijayan, a domestic help is back to knee deep sewage contaminated waters back home at Varadarajapuram. Last week floods inundated her home and she had to take refuge at a government relief centre. Although her home is still uninhabitable on Saturday, church authorities and the local councillor asked her to move out, she said. The waters had earlier destroyed all her belongings including her kitchen appliances and electronic items, she said.
“It’s a church run school. The councillor and school officials told us to go back so they can reopen the school. They asked us to manage saying ‘neck deep waters’ have now receded to ‘knee deep waters’,” Latha said. “Even the toilet overflows and we can’t use it. How can I live here?” she said.
Manohiri, her neighbour who too was sent out of the relief centre, said, “We are scared of disease now. We can’t even go out to buy things. There are snakes around these waters.”
The district Collector R Gajalakshnmi, however said, “We will arrange other locations for schools. Priority is rain-affected people’s safety. In the worst case, we will declare holiday for schools.”
Many residents allege rain-affected people are forced to return to unsafe and unhygienic situations to ‘project normalcy’.
The state government has estimated it will need a total of Rs. 8,500 crores for relief and restoration of the rain-battered state.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa’s had sent an SOS to the Central government for a Rs. 2,000 crore disaster relief package. Prime Minister Modi has released Rs. 940 crore.
Chennai schools and colleges will remain shut on Wednesday, extending the break imposed by heavy rains that has forced education administrators in the state to consider options including shrinking the half-yearly vacations to make up for the lost time.
- Wednesday will be the fourteenth rain holiday for schools this month.
- The meteorological department has said rains are not expected on tomorrow in Tamil Nadu. Tuesday was the first rain free day in Chennai after two days of heavy showers.
- Chennai received 8 cm rainfall in 45 minutes, the met office said.
- Chennai will get 300 million litres drinking water daily, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said.
The death toll in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu crossed 100 even as parts of Chennai received fresh rains this morning with the North East monsoon becoming active
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said in a statement that 24 more deaths have been reported in the past few days, taking the death toll in rain-related incidents like drowning and wall-collapse to 111.
The maximum casualties have been reported from Cuddalore with 12 deaths – nine in drowning, two in wall collapse and one in lamp post collapse.
Kancheepuram reported six deaths due to drowning while Chennai and Vellore three and two respectively. One person was electrocuted in Kanyakumari, the statement said.
Expressing grief over the deaths, Ms Jayalalithaa announced a relief of Rs. four lakh each to the bereaved families.
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Meanwhile, after a let-up of two days, Chennai witnessed rains in many parts, including suburban Tambaram and Kundrathur. The weather office forecast more rains for the next 24 hours, especially in areas along the Western ghats.
Many parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry received rains, with Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Kanyakumari in the state receiving good spells in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 AM today, the weather office said.
Sanakrankoil (Tirunelveli) received 14 centimetres (cm) while Rajapalayam (Virudhunagar) registered 12 cm of rain, officials said.
Many parts in both South and North Tamil Nadu received good spells of rain in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 AM. Chennai will be “generally cloudy” and few spells of rain were expected, it said.
In many places in the city, water was yet to completely recede, putting citizens to hardships.
Many people had moved to safer areas even as those who chose to stay home had to deal with small snakes and other insects swept in along with the rain water.
Ms Jayalalithaa said since many students have lost their books and notebooks due to rain water accumulating in their homes, the government will provide a new set free of cost.
The Chief Minister had also directed officials to provide one set of school uniform to students. The government will provide a duplicate copy of ration cards to persons who have lost their original in the rains.
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