The Death Toll From Chennai Floods in India Nears 270 as City Remains at a Standstill
Source: Time
Chennai continues to face its worst rains in over a century, with the death toll from flooding in the southern Indian city increasing even as Friday brought a semblance of respite.
A total of 269 people have died since torrential rains first began lashing the coastal city about a month ago, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.
Singh also added that close 60 others have lost their lives in other parts of the country’s south, in what he called an “unprecedented calamity.”
Around a million people have also been displaced from their homes, the Los Angeles Times cited a local journalist as saying.
Read more: http://time.com/4136066/chennai-floods-india-rains-modi/
More than 3 million people have been cut off from basic services. The floods have also hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has picked up 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages.
With more rain forecast, the military intensified efforts on Thursday to reach people trapped in inundated parts of India’s fourth most populous city.
Chennai saw only light rain on Thursday, but water levels remained high after the heaviest downpour in more than a century. A surge caused by a release from a brimming reservoir swamped low-lying areas of the city this week.
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Train services and flights to Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, were washed out and the navy has pressed fishing boats into service to move people from the worst-hit suburbs to temples, schools and wedding halls.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/03/india-army-struggles-to-rescue-survivors-as-flood-death-toll-nears-270
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... it has been heart-wrenching to hear them tell of knee-deep water in their houses, power being cut off, train tracks and runways under water ... I can't even imagine.
