Torrential rains have made life miserable in Chennai. Floodwaters have entered newer colonies and areas. The citizens have been upset over the unpreparedness of the civic authorities to tackle the situation. The scientific reason for the heavy rains — the depression in the Bay of Bengal — is easily understood. What is incomprehensible is why the rains have been turning deadlier and deadlier with each passing year. Of course, the reasons are not far to seek and they can be easily found out
Until not long ago, Chennai had many wetlands and water bodies both within and without the city limits. They used to absorb a lot of the rainwater. Over the years, the city has been expanding both horizontally and vertically with the wetlands turning into building complexes. The rainwater has no place to flow into and it, therefore, fills all low-lying areas, no matter whether they are now residential areas or commercial hubs. That is why more and more areas get waterlogged, causing not just disturbance but enormous losses to the people. Alas, there is no understanding of the problem by those who need to know.
One report has it that the former AIADMK government had spent Rs 5,000 crore to set up or to strengthen the rainwater harvesting systems in the city. Alas, most of the money was looted by what is known as the contractor-bureaucrat-politician nexus. It is elementary science that before a road is built, drainages are built on both sides. Alas, this is seldom practised in any city, including Chennai, so much so that rainwater accumulates on the road or flows into low-lying areas nearby which could be hospitals, housing societies or commercial complexes.
The people of Chennai will remember the heavy rainfall in 2015 that led to a massive flood in the city. Never before had Chennai received that kind of rainfall. At that time the government had announced several steps to avert such a situation in the future. The downpour this time was not as strong as it was in 2015 but it is a warning that such a situation could happen any time. This is all the more reason that everything possible should be done to beef up rain-harvesting and to strengthen stormwater drainage systems. Alas, there are no shortcuts here!
