News / India

India deploys soldiers to rescue flood-hit residents

Saturday, 05 December 2015 11:24 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 06 December 2015 4:12 AM ]

Indian rescue workers travel in the bucket of a bulldozer as they navigate through floodwaters in Chennai on December 3, 2015. ©AFP

Floods triggered by heavy rainfall continue to wreak havoc in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where nearly a million people have been displaced.

On Saturday, hundreds of extra soldiers and relief workers were deployed to the flooded city of Chennai after the heaviest rainfall in a century there.

Homes, hospitals, roads, railway tracks and the city’s airport were inundated by up to eight feet (2.5 meters) of water after torrential rains on December 1, leaving many residents trapped on rooftops or upper floors without power or communications.

Officials said the runway at Chennai airport was partly opened, aiding the relief effort in a disaster that has claimed 280 lives across the state.

While the rain has ceased in the Tamil Nadu state capital, more than half of Chennai’s 859 city areas remain under water, raising the threat of disease in the flat coastal city.

“We are asking for more help from the army, the national disaster relief team,” said Atulya Mishra relief commissioner of Tamil Nadu, adding, “It has been a monsoon unlike anything we have seen in history, we need all the help we can get.”

Heavy rainfall and flooding during India’s rainy monsoon season claim many lives and cause property damage every year.

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