Photos from flood-ravaged Chennai show city still underwater
Reuters | Posted: December 4, 2015 9:59 PM | Last Updated: December 7, 2015
Death toll approaches 300 after heaviest rains in a century
Image | INDIA-FLOODs Dec 7 2015 Chennai flood damage
Caption: Municipal workers clear the debris in an alley after floodwaters began receding in Chennai, India, on Monday. Rescue efforts in the inundated southern city shifted to disease prevention after the army spent days lifting people stranded on rooftops. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Tamil Nadu hit by 100-year storm
The worst flooding in a century in Tamil Nadu has left more than 280 people dead since torrential rains began in November. In the latest deluge this week, authorities turned off power in some areas to prevent electrocutions that were blamed for several deaths.
Image | INDIA-FLOODs Chennai damage Dec 6 2015
Caption: An aerial view shows a flooded residential colony in Chennai on Sunday. In many areas, sewage drains have overflowed, posing a health hazard for residents who have had to wade through the water. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Image | INDIA-FLOODs Dec 5 2015 paddle board Chennai floodwaters
Caption: A man uses a board to float through a flooded street to reach to a market place in Chennai on Dec. 5. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Record-setting rains leave deep floodwaters
While floodwaters that built up last week — after nearly 40 centimetres of rain fell in 24 hours; the most in 100 years — have begun to recede, vast swaths of Chennai and neighbouring districts are still under up to three metres of water.
Image | INDIA-FLOODs Tamil Nadu Chennai Dec 6 2015
Caption: A flood-affected couple in Chennai sits under a picture of Jayalalithaa Jayaram, chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Dec. 6. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 4 2015
Caption: Chennai, on the eastern edge of India, is built on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It's a low lying area prone to flooding. Here, a car floats in the aftermath of a severe deluge on Dec. 4.
Rescue effort shifts to disease prevention
India's health department said that the rescue operation has shifted to a relief effort that includes focusing on measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 3 2015 waders
Caption: Residents of Chennai, India's fourth-largest city, took advantage of a break in the weather on Friday to leave their flooded homes. (Strdel/AFP/Getty)
Image | INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 4 2015 helicopter rescue
Caption: Soldiers using helicopters and boats have rescued thousands of residents marooned in high-rise buildings and launched massive relief operations to provide food and medicine. (STR/AFP/Getty)
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 3 2015 food relief
Caption: Residents of Chennai displaced by the floodwaters got food handouts from relief agencies in the immediate aftermath of the storms on Dec. 3.
Modi mocked on social media for doctored shot
Just after the rainstorms stopped, a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who travelled to Chennai to survey the damage, was found to have been doctored. The official Press Information Bureau (PIB) quickly replaced the image, which it posted on Twitter, with the original shot and apologized for the "error in judgement."
A city vulnerable to flooding
Chennai is a flat, coastal city with old flood mitigation measures. Trash-filled drains and buildings constructed on lake beds in the rush to industrialize have made it more prone to flooding.
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 3 2015 flooded streets
Caption: Highways usually jammed with traffic were eerily free of cars on Dec. 3. (STR/AFP/Getty)
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 3 2015 floating jet
Caption: A partially submerged jet was spotted on an aerial tour during a break in the devastating rains on Thursday. (India's Press Information Bureau/Reuters)
Seasonal monsoons made worse by El Nino
India's main monsoon season runs from June through September, but for Chennai and the rest of the southeastern coast, the heaviest rainfall is from October to December. Experts say the heavy rainfall was linked to the El Nino weather pattern, when the waters of the Pacific Ocean get warmer than usual.
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai balloon wader Dec 3 2015
Caption: More than 40,000 people have been rescued in recent days after record rains lashed the coastal state, worsening weeks of flooding.
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai rickshaw Dec 3 2015
Caption: Daily life was turned on its head after the record-breaking rain storms last week.
Image | North INDIA-100 year FLOOD Chennai Dec 3 2015
Caption: Roads made too treacherous for driving turned into footpaths after days of flooding.
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