Inundated City – ChennaiFew months ago, I was on a skype call with my dad who lives in Southern Indi

Inundated City – ChennaiFew months ago, I was on a skype call with my dad who lives in Southern India. As usual, we reached a point where we had nothing much to talk about so we turned our conversation to the weather. I recollected having read an article on Earth Story (http://on.fb.me/1X0mwc1) about the potentially strong El Nino this year and how it affected precipitation in Southern India, and shared the chart with him.During the past week, two slow moving tropical low pressure systems dropped 550mm of rainfall along the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu. The first photo shows that most of this rainfall was concentrated around the metropolitan city of Chennai. With a population of over 6 million, and a population density of ~16,000 per square kilometer, this rainfall event affected the lives of the residents of this city and killing 59 people in rainfall related incidents.Two reservoirs nearby the city – Poondi and Chembarambakkam were ‘bone dry’ before these rains. However, their floodgates had to be opened following these rains. Furthermore, the Adyar river, that flows through the city, over-topped its banks and also entered into the first floor of the houses in its banks. Life in the city came to a halt, and schools and colleges had to be closed down for a week.10,000 people living in low-lying and coastal areas had to be relocated to relief camps. The National Disaster Response Force and the army were deployed to aid rescue people stranded due to damaged roads and bridges. A cab company had closed down its regular cab service and initiated a ferry service which proved vital.So how does a metropolitan city choke up so badly during heavy monsoons? Well, this is not the first time that the city has received incessant rainfall over a week. The extent of inundation in the city clearly exposes flaws in urban planning, real estate policy, water/drainage management and housing in the city. The city has witnessed a recent boom in the housing and low-lying areas along with floodplains, wetlands and water bodies (lakes) have been released for rampant construction of buildings.Poor planning coupled with the strong El Nino signal that brought incessant rains to the city resulted in loss of lives, choking up public commute, inundated roads and housing up to 10 feet of water, and bringing the city to stand still. Hope this event reminds urban planners to build a smarter city in the future.NateImage Credits:NASA, http://bit.ly/1P2jqjySTR, via Getty Images. http://bzfd.it/1ldwpBQSources:http://bbc.in/1SUXwwohttp://bit.ly/1kJxG3Rhttp://reut.rs/1jfDbWwhttp://bit.ly/1HRo8Odhttp://bit.ly/1WX9pbv -- source link

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