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The South Central Railway (SCR) is running special trains from Hyderabad and Kakinada Port to Chennai for the benefit of passengers stranded in the rain-ravaged Tamil Nadu capital.
These trains are: Tirupati-Chennai Central Saptagiri Express, Tirupati-Chennai Central Express and Vijayawada-Chennai Central Janshatabdi Express (all three in both directions). Meanwhile, the SCR today cancelled half a dozen trains (Up and Down directions) due to submergence of Railway bridges on the Chennai–Gudur section.
All banks in flood affected areas in Tamil Naidu will remain open on Sunday and will also offer extended business hours, says Finance Ministry – ANI
Centre Sends 17 Tonnes of Snacks, 5,000 Litres Milk to TN
Water has receded in the manoeuvring area at the Chennai airport, including the runways, the government said in a press release
The release also stated that repair work has been carried out and all Foreign Object Debris has been removed. A team of Aiports Authority of India has been carrying out inspection of all Airport Systems and all efforts are being made to make the aerodrome available for all flights for all weather operations at the earliest.
Central Cabinet Secretary Chairs A Meeting With NCMC
According to a Press Release, Cabinet Secretary, P K Sinha, chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), on Thursday, to review the flood situation in Tamil Nadu. The Cabinet Secretary directed that the restoration of telecom and power be given the utmost importance and an adequate supply of petroleum products be made available at terminals and retail outlets.
Officers of the Indian Navy marked the 44th Indian Navy on December 4 by rescuing victims of flood-ravaged Chennai. Watch the video.
Chennai Airport to resume partial operations tomorrow, says Chairman of Airport Authority of India.
Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis said, on Thursday, that his government has arranged for two buses to bring back around 150 students stranded in Chennai.
The NDRF intensified its relief and rescue operations, on Friday, in the rain and flood-battered Chennai and its adjoining areas, as it added 20 more teams for the job and rescued over 10,000 people till now.
The force, till now, had sent in over 830 life jackets, 520 life buoys and 25 deep diving sets along with 45 trained deep divers to assist the local administration in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief work.
It has also activated helpline number at its control room here – 011-24363260, 09711077372 and the Twitter handle @NDRFHQ. As the Chennai airport is shut due to flood, the force is operating from the INS Rajali Naval airbase at Arakkonam, about 60-kms from Chennai.
Another spell of light rain hit Mylapore after 12-hour respite, reports CNN IBN. Power has been restored in areas where water has receded. ANI reports that heavy rains have hit Tambaram, which remained submerged in water after heavy rains on Tuesday.
Heavy rain has also resumed in Royapettah, Mount Road, and Chengalpattu in Chennai.
Global carmakers and auto part manufacturers in Chennai are being forced to keep their factory gates closed till December 5, at least, which is likely to hit local sales and exports in coming months.
Carmakers such as Renault, Nissan Motor Hyundai Motor and component maker Apollo Tyres will decide on Saturday whether to resume production, whereas BMW will keep a plant closed till December 7, as heavy rains inundate the city’s streets limiting movement.
Help continues to flow in from all corners of the world. Facebook has activated the safety check feature for the region, and now Microsoft has roped in Skype to ensure all communication channels to-and-from the area are free of charge.
Families residing abroad can reach out to their loved ones via Skype as International calls to Tamil Nadu have will be free of charge.
Families of MIOT victims allege that their relatives died two days ago, according to a report in The Indian Express. A friend of one of the deceased said that he was not allowed to visit the patient on Thursday. Only later did he come to know that his friend had already passed away.
The bodies are being brought to a government hospital, since Thursday night.
Chennai has not received any heavy rainfall during the last 24 hours, and will not receive any more for the next 48 hours, Director of Meteorological Department BP Yadav informed.
However light rainfall continues.
The supply of fuel in Chennai has taken a hit due to “logistic problems” faced by oil companies, even as the availability of essential commodities like milk, water and vegetables remain affected across Tamil Nadu on Friday.
Eighteen patients of Chennai’s MIOT hospital who were on ventilator support died over the last three days, Tamil Nadu’s health secretary confirmed on Friday. However, he denied that power failure affected ventilators, thereby causing death.
Tamil Nadu health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said that 18 patients had died but maintained that the reason behind the deaths is unclear.
MIOT Hospital was treating 575 patients when floods started; 75 critical patients were on ventilator.
The road from Bengaluru to Chennai has been cleared enabling vehicles to move via areas like Ramupet, Sriperumbudur, Poonamallee and CMBT reports The News Minute.
The entire National Highway-4 stretch between the two cities is clear.
Many private bus operators like KPN travels, Shama Sardar travels, SRM Travels, Hebron, Muskan Tours and Travels, Seabird Tourists and Aditya Travels are working as per their regular schedules to transport people in and out of the city.
However some areas like Porur inside the city are still not accessible by road and can only be accessed by boats.
Claims worth Rs1, 000 crore might be placed in front of insurance companies, which are facing business interruptions caused by damaged inventory of auto companies in Chennai and nearby areas.
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal donates Rs 2 lakh for flood-affected people in Chennai.
Her father Harvir Singh said, “I am going to make it happen.”
Saina, currently ranked number two in BWF world rankings, is training under renowned coach Vimal Kumar in Bangalore.
The News Minute reports on the condition of roads in Chennai. This data is till 10:30 AM.
Rescue forces have not reached north Chennai, thus forcing disappointed residents to do the needful themselves.
The poor civic infrastructure has already collapsed on Thursday. Helpless people were seen striding towards the Vyasarpadi bridge.
Situation is still dismal in Tondiarpet, RK Nagar, Vyasarpadi, Sathyamurthy Nagar and Kodungiyur. Garbage started floating on water in Kodungiyur, worsening the situation.
A family in Sathyamurthy Nagar was seen struggling with an old man’s body, since all cremation and burial grounds have been inundated. The family members said that the body had to be brought out since it began to decompose.
There is one place in Chennai that is bone dry and hence, an ideal place for people to spend nights – the Chennai airport, except the runway of course.
The airport, which remains shut till December 6, has turned into a dormitory for several people who have camped outside for around three days now.
Seven-eight trains are scheduled to run today to evacuate flood-hit victims, said Anil Saxena, Railway PRO.
Saxena further said that drinking water and food packets were facilitated for stranded passengers and medical booths were placed at stations.
The US has offered assistance to India in meeting the humanitarian challenge posed by the Chennai deluge and condoled the loss of lives in the worst flooding faced by the city in decades.
(PTI)
Five NDRF teams, each from Punjab and Pune have reached Chennai to accelerate the relief measures, said National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General OP Singh.
Singh further said that power has been restored in areas that are not waterlogged. Communication networks have also improved.
Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will chair a meeting on Chennai Floods, which will be attended by Singh and MHA Officials.
While major parts of Chennai still remain under water, water logging has gone down in some parts of Chennai, like the Teynampet area – one of the busiest commercial areas of the ciity. The neighbourhood houses some prominent names like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and movie star Rajnikanth.
Indian Navy’s INS Sahyadri left for Chennai from Vishakapatnam last evening, loaded with relief materials.
Since yesterday things started to brighten up for Chennai. Rescue operations were stepped up, and the centre and state governments offered financial aid.
Meanwhile, a recent college graduate’s simple effort to collect and disburse data of aid available to the people of Chennai, has brought about a website — chennairains.org. The website compiles data from social media and messenger apps and feeds it into a spreadsheet, which is now public. Students from Bengaluru have also raised money for the flood affected city.
Amidst power cuts and massive shortages in essential commodities like milk and vegetables, the Prime Minister, who flew to Chennai to assess the situation, has announced Rs 1, 000 crore over and above the assistance the central government has already made available to Tamil Nadu.
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