Chennai: An intermittent light drizzle since the morning on Saturday has added to the worries of Chennai residents who are battling the worst floods in a century amid shortage of drinking water and power cuts.

Chennai and its suburbs were battered by record rains for the past one month, leaving at least 325 people dead.

Unlike some areas such as Mylapore, Adyar and Annasalai where the water level has receded and electricity supply has been partially restored, people in many pockets in north Chennai continued to remain cut-off.

“Rumours of surplus water being released are also a cause of serious worry,” Revathi Vasan, a resident of West Mambalam, told IANS.

She said power supply has not been restored in her locality while their is water- logging around her apartment complex and on the roads.

Lakshman, a resident of Adyar, told IANS: “Milk was available at the shop near our apartment. It was sold at the normal price. But water cans have become very costly.”

In several localities, apartment owners pumped out stagnant water through hired pumps.

Southern Railway on Saturday announced operation of a special train from Chennai Beach Station to Bengaluru. The train will leave Chennai Beach at 4.30 p.m on Saturday.

A special train will be operated from Bengaluru to Chennai Beach Station on December 6.

Suburban train services between Chennai Egmore – Tambaram have commenced.

Fish carts and two wheelers were the mode of transport for patients to reach hospitals during the past three days, said an official.

N. Sathyabhama, director of medical services and quality-southern region at Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., said the hospital also received patients from several other hospitals affected by floods and power cuts.

“Some patients came by fish cart. One was brought by her brother on the bike as that was the only means of navigation through the heavily flooded Greams Lane (where the hospital is located),” Sathyabhama told IANS.

She said there was no power supply for 57 hours in one block and 69 hours in another and the situation was managed with generators.

As a safety measure the electricity power was cut for a couple of days in Chennai and its suburbs.

Many household items such as plastic chairs and tables, beds and TVs have been washed out to the shore of the Adyar river and are being collected by rag-pickers.

The government Royapettah Hospital and Sri Ramachandra Hospitals also got patients from the hospitals affected by flood and power cut.

Royapettah Hospital got 23 patients from other hospitals in flood affected areas, a senior official at the hospital told IANS.

(IANS)

Bengaluru: Mosques and Muslim religious groups are jumping in to help flood-affected Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu in Bengaluru, as the flood affected state is going through an unimaginable devastation and tragedy.

Bengaluru-based HSIS and GFM Trust have asked the faithful coming to offer prayers at mosques in Frazer Town and other adjacent areas to donate in cash or kind, which will be utilised to provide relief materials to Chennai.

People in Bengaluru can contact Fahim: 9845108414 or Dada: 9886071963 to aid the people of Chennai.

Chennai: Eighteen patients died in a private hospital here allegedly due to flooding of generator room and resultant snap of oxygen supply even as the Tamil Nadu government today indicated that it would probe the matter.

The medical institution has declined to comment. Over the past several days when rains ravaged the city, a well known private hospital on the banks of the Adyar river in Manapakkanam here witnessed flooding in parts of its premises.

As there was no electricity, the hospital was run on generator. Speaking to reporters, some relatives of those dead alleged that those on life support like ventilator and oxygen could not be continuously given such backup as the generator room was flooded.

The private health authorities remained inaccessible.

“Out of 75 ICU patients in that hospital, 57 ventilator patients were moved out. The remaining patients died over the past two three days. Let us not jump the gun to say that the patients died due to power failure,” Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan told reporters.

He said, however, the government was probing the issue.

To another question, he said, “If it was so all the ICU patients would have died. 575 patients have been moved out of that hospital,” he said acknowledging that there was flooding and power cut in that particular hospital.

“All government hospitals were up and running. We are taking patients from all hospitals on need basis,” he said.

Patients needing support are being shifted to large state-run hospitals with facilities, he said.
“92 additional mobile medical teams have been dispatched across the city for such purposes,” he said.

The Health Secretary said that he along with the Health Minister visited another private hospital, which is also flooded, and shifted babies on a ventilator to a government facility.

“Let us not unnecessarily create panic. But we will also go through records,” he said.