Today we had our first day off of school - not due to snowfall like I experienced last year in Belgrade, but due to the heavy rains associated with Cyclone Nisha. I couldn't find rainfall totals since the cyclone came on land, but on Wednesday alone, Chennai got over 5.5" (14cm). Considering that it rained just as hard today and there's more to come, the city will get a lot of rain.
I went for a short walk this morning when the rain abated for a bit, then later to my principal's house for lunch. Even in a few short hours, the water in front of their house rose considerably. The local cricket field once again resembles a pond. My neighbor later warned me not to go for a walk in the next two days, as power lines might be down and feeding electricity into the flooded streets. Indeed, over 22 people have died within the last 24 hours, mostly due to electrocution or walls falling in. One auto rickshaw driver got killed when a tree fell onto his vehicle. I thought of the poor people living in thatched huts near the rivers, canals, and sea. How many of their homes were flooded or destroyed? Considering the polluted nature of many of the region's rivers, I certainly wouldn't want that water going in my house! Once again, I realized how fortunate I am, as there are many who don't have a dry safe house to escape the rains.
6 comments:
Hi Melissa,
I was searching about "Nisha" and ended here, you have a nice blog. Welcome to Chennai. I am in Chennai near Adyar as well. It is indeed sad what a cyclone could cause to people lives when the infrastructure is not in place.
Regards,
Shiva
Dear Shiva,
Thanks for the compliment on my blog. Yesterday while going to the National Theatre I saw some thatched huts submerged up to their roofs. Sad. Indeed, how much of this could have been prevented with better infrastructure.
That's a lot of water...but I hope we get at least as much snow this year, but only after school is out.
Hello Melissa,
Like Shiva, Cyclone Nisha's search leads us here.
Your blog is quite interesting and I like your thinking style.
Dear Melissa,
I can understand that every human being would feel pity for the submerged huts. The main reason for their state is themselves mostly. Those people, even thought were given some quarters by Government with better infrastructure, instead of settling there, they rented it and settled in tatched huts. What would government in such cases? we can't blame everything on Govt., people also need to blame themselves for certain things! Hope I make sense!
Keep Blogging,
Jithendra
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