Forces are having trouble reaching Chennai since the airport is closed, defence minster Manohar Parrikar has said.
Deluged Chennai will have as many troops as needed to rescue marooned people, Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has said. But the minister said they were facing difficulty in reaching the city "as the airport is also not operating".
Teams from the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Disaster Response Force, or NDRF, are already at work in the city, ferrying people to safety from buses, cars and flooded houses.
The non-stop torrential rains since last night let up in the morning, but the flooded streets have left the commuters stranded. With water on the runway, the airport has been shut at least till tomorrow morning.
Two columns of army had been at work since last evening in the suburban areas of Tambaram and Oorapakkam, where floods had worsened after the Chembarakam lake overflowed and an unprecedented 26,000 cusecs of water was released.
Navy personnel have been deployed in Chennai's low-lying Saidapet area to rescue marooned people. Three Air Force choppers have also joined the relief work.
The NDRF is airlifting another 15 teams - each comprising 40 personnel -- to the rain-battered state. While 10 teams are being airlifted from Bhubaneshwar to Tirupati, another five teams are being lifted from Delhi, NDRF chief OP Singh said. The teams are carrying 20 inflatable boats along with them for the rescue operations.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa assuring all possible help. "Spoke to Jayalalithaaji on the flood situation in parts of Tamil Nadu. Assured all possible support & cooperation in this unfortunate hour," PM Modi had tweeted.
"The Prime Minister has issued a memorandum and we have deployed our Central team there to assess the situation and make a report so that every possible help can also reach there," Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said.