 "Renewed rain strikes fear in Chennai")
Rescue helicopters were grounded on Friday by renewed rains that spread fear in the flood-struck city, while the death of 14 patients at a private hospital added to the official toll of 280 confirmed killed in the disaster.
Waters that had started to recede rose again after a new cloudburst that sent residents running for shelter under trees and in shopfronts. Parts of the flat, coastal city remained under up to eight feet (2.5 meters) of water for a fourth day.
Many residents have spent days stranded on rooftops since more than 345 mm rain fell on Tuesday, breaking a century-old record.
Despite combined rescue efforts by the military and civilian emergency services, help had yet to reach many areas and city-dwellers grew impatient as it emerged that the authorities had released water from brimming lakes without much warning.
"We are sending technical experts and engineers who will find a solution to flush out the flood water. It has to be drained out soon, but we don't know how," said a home ministry official.
Military helicopters dropped food to residents stranded on rooftops and the defence ministry doubled to 4,000 the number of soldiers deployed to help the rescue effort.
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 mud and garbage piled up.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has intensified its relief and rescue operations as it added 20 more teams for the job and rescued over 10,000 people till Friday afternoon. Director General of the force, O P Singh, will also travel to the state to review the operations and effectively monitor these activities.
Safe drinking water continued to remain a luxury for many. In some areas, one litre bottle of packaged drinking water was being sold for ~150, ten times more than the usual price. Milk and newspaper supplies were erratic and residents complained that vegetables were still being sold at exorbitantly high rates.
Transport services were also showing signs of picking up. Mobile phone services, which took a severe beating during the flood, were partially restored, even as other services such as ATMs continued to remain inaccessible.
Limited commercial flight operations have started this morning from the Rajali naval air station in Arakkonam, around 60 km from Chennai.
Train services on the suburban Chennai Arakonnam stretch were partially restored. Southern Railway officials said they were yet to take a call on restoration of services on the busy Tambaram-Chennai beach route which covers both business and residential areas. The Chennai Metro line remained crowded because of the suspension of bus and rail transport.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government, which was so far struggling to cope with the unprecedented situation, on Friday chalked out a detailed plan to restore normalcy.
"As per the orders of chief minister, 45,000 employees of state government are working day and night," said Atulya Mishra, state relief officer. So far, 50,009 relief centres have been set up and 54,529 food packets distributed.
"We are in the process of restoring power supply. As and when water recedes, we will provide 24x7 electricity," said Saikumar, chairman and managing director, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited.
Waters that had started to recede rose again after a new cloudburst that sent residents running for shelter under trees and in shopfronts. Parts of the flat, coastal city remained under up to eight feet (2.5 meters) of water for a fourth day.
Many residents have spent days stranded on rooftops since more than 345 mm rain fell on Tuesday, breaking a century-old record.
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In one of the most shocking incidents, 18 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 and said the cause needed to be investigated.
Despite combined rescue efforts by the military and civilian emergency services, help had yet to reach many areas and city-dwellers grew impatient as it emerged that the authorities had released water from brimming lakes without much warning.
"We are sending technical experts and engineers who will find a solution to flush out the flood water. It has to be drained out soon, but we don't know how," said a home ministry official.
Military helicopters dropped food to residents stranded on rooftops and the defence ministry doubled to 4,000 the number of soldiers deployed to help the rescue effort.
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 mud and garbage piled up.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has intensified its relief and rescue operations as it added 20 more teams for the job and rescued over 10,000 people till Friday afternoon. Director General of the force, O P Singh, will also travel to the state to review the operations and effectively monitor these activities.
Safe drinking water continued to remain a luxury for many. In some areas, one litre bottle of packaged drinking water was being sold for ~150, ten times more than the usual price. Milk and newspaper supplies were erratic and residents complained that vegetables were still being sold at exorbitantly high rates.
Transport services were also showing signs of picking up. Mobile phone services, which took a severe beating during the flood, were partially restored, even as other services such as ATMs continued to remain inaccessible.
Limited commercial flight operations have started this morning from the Rajali naval air station in Arakkonam, around 60 km from Chennai.
Train services on the suburban Chennai Arakonnam stretch were partially restored. Southern Railway officials said they were yet to take a call on restoration of services on the busy Tambaram-Chennai beach route which covers both business and residential areas. The Chennai Metro line remained crowded because of the suspension of bus and rail transport.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government, which was so far struggling to cope with the unprecedented situation, on Friday chalked out a detailed plan to restore normalcy.
"As per the orders of chief minister, 45,000 employees of state government are working day and night," said Atulya Mishra, state relief officer. So far, 50,009 relief centres have been set up and 54,529 food packets distributed.
"We are in the process of restoring power supply. As and when water recedes, we will provide 24x7 electricity," said Saikumar, chairman and managing director, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited.