International
Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters
Rescue helicopters were grounded Friday by renewed rains that spread fear in the flood-struck south Indian city of Chennai, while the death of 14 patients at a private hospital added to the official toll of 280 confirmed killed in the ongoing disaster. The country's Meteorological Department has predicted more rain for the region in Tamil Nadu state through Sunday.
Waters that had started to recede rose again after a new cloudburst that sent residents running for shelter under trees and in shop fronts. Parts of the flat, coastal city, which is India's fourth largest, remained under up to eight feet of water for a fourth day.
In one of the most shocking incidents, 14 patients in the intensive care unit of the MIOT International hospital died after floods took out generators running life-support systems, Prithvi Mohandas, a doctor at the hospital, told reporters. Tamil Nadu's health secretary confirmed the deaths but said the cause needed to be investigated.
Military helicopters dropped food to residents stranded on rooftops and the defense ministry doubled to 4,000 the number of soldiers deployed to help the rescue effort. The government has set up 97 relief camps, which are currently providing food and shelter to an estimated 62,000 people.
Rescue teams urged people to leave inundated regions and hundreds thronged the streets in the morning seeking higher ground, or trying to rescue relatives. Only roofs in some villages remained visible. Where water had receded, masses of black mud and garbage piled up.
But even as the government struggled to reach all those impacted by the floods, residents teamed up on their own to distribute aid — packets of food, bottled water and bed sheets — in the worst-hit neighborhoods.
“What is heartwarming is that the people of Chennai are helping out,” said Arun Ebenezer, who has been forced to stay with a friend for three days after rain began to beat down on Tuesday.
Power supply has been erratic since the city turned off electricity to prevent possible electrocutions. Mobile and fixed phone networks have been sporadic. Thousands of people have taken to Twitter and other social media to reach out to friends and family
Meanwhile, Chennai's airport was closed for a third day. Photographs from earlier in the week showed large parts of the building and runway completely submerged. The Airports Authority of India has said that the airport would remain closed at least until Sunday.
As Chennai reeled from the heaviest rains in over a century, experts said the devastation was in large part due to the same breakneck and haphazard urban planning that has marked many of India's major cities.
“We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that our urban sprawls such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Srinagar etc. have not paid adequate attention to the natural water bodies that exist in them,” said Sunita Narain, director of the Center for Science and Environment, an advocacy and research organization
Al Jazeera and wire services
Scores killed since rain set in last month; 200 critically injured in country's fourth largest city in last 24 hours
Over 250 people have died, and more than 3 million have been cut off from basic services in the deluge
The heaviest rainfall in over a century causes massive flooding across Tamil Nadu state
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