Central team assesses rain damage to roads, canals

Revenue Secretary B Chandramohan told reporters that the Central team will continue its survey of the affected areas in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur till Friday. “The officials will study the extent of damage to roads, infrastructure, loss of lives and areas that faced inundation during the downpour in these districts. It will submit its report to the Centre,” he said.

The inter-state Central team began its assessment of damaged roads at Royapuram. Road damage issues reported along Basin Bridge power house road (division-72, zone-6), EVK Sampath Salai (division 58, zone-5), Jermaiah road, Vepery (division 58, zone-5), and Moorthinger Road (through Perambur Barracks road) (division 46, zone-4), were also inspected. 

Later, the team assessed the damages to canals on the Adyar river along Dharghast Road near Tambaram, Shri Ram Nagar (Mudichoor) and Amudham Nagar (Perungalathur), Krishna Nagar (Tambaram). The team also inspected Varadharajapuram, which suffered extensive damage, as well as the temporary measures put in place on Narayanapuram lake in Kilkattalai. 

Earlier in the day, the members of the team had a meeting with Chandramohan, and Commissioner of Disaster Management, Rajendra Ratnoo, among others, at the Secretariat. The team also inspected Otteri Nallah and the culvert built over it, before proceeding to Konnur High Road where they inspected an old, choked drain 

that caved in the recent rain. The damaged drain has to be rebuilt. 

The state government has already sought a relief package of about Rs 9,300 crore from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This included rehabilitation efforts in cyclone-hit areas of the state, including Kanniyakumari, and the memorandum was presented to Modi during his visit to Kanniyakumari post-Ockhi. The CM had asked the Centre to declare the cyclone as a ‘national disaster’ considering the extent of damage it had wreaked upon the state.