2015 floods in city man-made, indicts CAG

In a series of damning findings, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on flood management and response in Chennai and its suburbs has held the government of Tamil Nadu responsible for the 2015 floods, citing that it was “not a natural disaster but was indeed a man-made catastrophe”.

The state government had maintained that the unprecedented rainfall in 2015 caused the December deluge which inundated 23.25 lakh houses and claimed 289 lives in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur. 

However, the CAG report released on Monday clearly holds the state government responsible for the catastrophe, for failure to adhere to Central Water Commission norms. Historically, the overflow of Adyar River has caused floods in Chennai and the suburban areas during 1976, 1985, 1996 and 2005. 

The river, which has a carrying capacity between 30,229 to 49,652 cusecs, recorded a flow of 1.34 lakh cusecs on December 1, 2015, due to incessant rains and surplus discharge from the Chembarambakkam and other unregulated tanks. The report highlighted that according to the Compendium of Rules of Regulation (COR) for Regulated Tanks, the Water Resources Department (WRD) should store water at Full Reservoir Level in December. 

The department failed to acquire patta land to operate the Chembarambakkam tank at full capacity. Even on December 1 and 2, 2015, the full level of Chembarambakkam was not maintained, storing only 3.481 TMC out of the total capacity of 3.645 TMC, to avoid submersion of patta land – violating the COR. 

“Had the WRD acquired the patta land, the storage capacity could have been maintained at its fullest and magnitude of flooding reduced,” said the report.