Soon, 5 new canals to mitigate flooding in south Chennai

Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said that one canal would connect Pallikaranai to Buckingham Canal through Radial Road, while the second would connect Perumbakkam to Buckingham Canal through KK Road. The third canal would connect Nookampalayam and Buckingham Canal through Semmencheri. These apart, the PWD would construct canals at Thazambur and Navalur connecting Buckingham Canal.

With the water entering suburban areas due to the opening of Chembarambakkam lake, the residents in Perumbakkam and Semmencheri suffered a lot even after the incessant rains ceased.

“The geography of Pallikaranai is like a bowl that receives rain water from both north and south. Water from the northern part as well as southern suburbs flows into the marshland causing flood in Perumbakkam, Velachery, Semmencheri and Perungudi. During the recent rain, around 1.5 TMC of water entered the region. The five perpendicular canals are planned to drain excess water into the sea without causing flood,” Prakash said.

He added that the civic body engineers have already started a process to design the canals and the five canals, of a total length of 24 kilometers, would cost the government between Rs 300 crore and Rs 400 crore.

Meanwhile, the civic body has identified 21 critical flooding areas during the monsoon rains and the engineers are preparing designs to technically mitigate the flooding in the such areas, including parts of Villivakkam and KK Nagar.

“While 95 per cent of the areas were not affected during the rains, some areas were hit as the terrain is flat or below the sea level. Those areas require technical intervention as usual practice like pumping will not work,” he added.

Prakash pointed out that the project carried out by the civic body in Kathirvedu area in Madhavaram zone worked, with the area remained free from flooding this year.