"I Returned Home After 3 Days, Found": Chennai Reacts To Rain Fury

Reviewing dewatering works in low-lying areas today, the Chief Minister blamed the earlier AIADMK regime.

It's a mess inside Godwin Ebenezer's house, as he returns to check three days after Sunday's 21 cm of rain flooded his home at Chennai's Periyar Nagar in Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency. As he opened the door, the damage unfolds with a stink and the sight of ruined furnishing and furniture. 

Although this has been a day-long annual ritual for years, he had to leave his house for three days in 2015 when floods struck the city. Now it's a repeat of it, he says.  

“So far the governments didn't address our concerns. We hope at least the new government will do something for us. We are tax-paying citizens," he added. 

The low-lying neighbourhood is in knee-deep waters. Developed thirty years ago, the concrete jungle stands on the catchment area of a few lakes. During the monsoon, water has nowhere to go. As a result, streets and roads get flooded, residents say. The storm water drains also reportedly get inundated.