Chennai:
The North East monsoon fury has struck Tamil Nadu yet again in what has become almost an annual feature. The casualty figure in Ooty has risen to 42. Total casualty in the state has touched 75. Ooty is cut off as the road to this hill station has been breached.
In the Nilgiris District 35 people have died in landslides, 33 people have died in floods across the state.
"Since 1978 we have not seen this kind of a very heavy rainfall in Ooty," said a resident.
Chennai too has stood still since Monday. The massive water logging in the city forced a vacation on schools.
"Even autowallahs will not come, very difficult for children. Of course the major problem is drainage," said Rajagopal, Chennai resident.
"The rain will stop soon in a gradual and phased manner," said S R Ramanan, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.
Now the big worry is this kind of water logging should not lead to spread of any disease. In 2005 and 2007 much after the North East monsoons had subsided, Chennai was left grappling with thousands of cases of water-borne diseases.
The challenge for the city is to prevent a repeat.