 "Cyclone Michaung")
V Dhanalakshmi (name changed) was frightened, panicked, and confused for three reasons — flood, power disruption, and an unstable mobile network. When Business Standard contacted the PhD student, she was at the terrace of her house in Chennai looking for steady network.
“How can we contact rescue teams or seek help for elders without a network? My house is flooded, and I can see a snake near me,” she cried. Her voice trailed off, as the call ended abruptly with her desperate plea.
On Tuesday evening, the Cyclone Michaung made landfall in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh, 375 km away from Chennai. But it left in its wake disruption and chaos in Chennai, as torrential rain submerged parts of the city.
Services of major telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL were affected across Chennai, mainly due to difficulty in sourcing and transporting diesel to tower sites, and battery related problems.
According to industry insiders, work on restoring services was on in full swing. “The state government had shut down power for precautionary reasons, especially in low-lying areas. Diesel generator sets were running as backup in most areas, but they have run out now. Also, in Chennai, most sites had been taken by operators from tower companies,” said a source.
Vodafone Idea said the company had robust processes to ensure business continuity even during times of crisis. “The fall of cyclone Michaung has partly impacted our services due to power outages and restricted access to the network sites. Despite the challenges posed by the excessive flooding, our on-ground teams are working 24x7 with the local authorities. The voice and data services are being progressively restored and we should soon be back to normalcy,” a Vodafone Idea spokesperson told Business Standard.
Officials from all three private sector operators told Business Standard they hoped to reactivate sites by Wednesday, when the cyclone is anticipated to move northwards and waters recede. Airtel Xstream Fiber sent messages to consumers that services will resume by Tuesday night.
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Rescue efforts were underway on Tuesday. “We planned the work based on previous instances of rain. Despite unprecedented rains, the damage this time has reduced as compared to the past. We are taking steps to restore normalcy in Chennai very soon. The impact of the rains was reduced because of precautionary measures taken by the government,” Chief Minister M K Stalin told reporters.
While 119 people lost their lives during the 2015 floods in the city, heavy rains on Monday resulted in the death of 12 people, reports said. According to the local media, a major factor that helped arrest the extent of losses this time was a planned expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore.
The city and its adjoining districts faced relentless rains on Monday as the severe cyclonic storm loomed over the north coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.
Stalin mentioned that 61,666 relief camps were established across nine affected districts, including Chennai. Approximately 1.1 million food packets and one lakh milk packets had been distributed so far, he said.
The Chennai Corporation has marshalled 5,000 workers from other districts for flood mitigation work in the city. On Tuesday, the cyclone made landfall in neighbouring Andhra, the weather office said, barrelling in with wind speeds of up to 110 kmph.
(With inputs from agencies)
