Chennai airport shut down, India's navy opens naval air base for rescue and relief

Record ID: 1391483

  • Title: Chennai airport shut down, India's navy opens naval air base for rescue and relief
  • Date: 3rd December 2015
  • Summary: CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA (DECEMBER 3, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** AERIAL VIEW OF WATER LOGGED CHENNAI ROADS AND BUILDINGS TWO AIR FORCE PILOTS INSIDE HELICOPTER CHENNAI AIRPORT RUNWAY WITH FEW AIRCRAFT STANDING OFF IT MORE OF PILOT FLYING HELICOPTER TARMAC NEAR MAIN TERMINAL BUILDING FLOODED/SEVERAL AIRCRAFT PARKED NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER 3, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF INDIAN NAVAL STAFF, R.K. DHOWAN, SAYING: "In addition, as you are aware, the whole of the airport at Chennai is gutted and no aircraft can take off. So INS Rajali which is our airbase in Arakkonam, which is 60 kilometers as the crow flies from Chennai, has been activated. All relief material as well as civil flights are operating from Arakkonam." CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA (DECEMBER 3, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) MORE OF RUNWAY AT CHENNAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2015 10:49
  • Keywords: airport paralysed Tamil Nadu Chennai floods
  • Location: CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU/NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • City: CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU/NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Floods
  • Reuters ID: LVA0013CASZET
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
    Chennai's international airport remained shut on Thursday (December 3) due to the heaviest rain in a century which caused widespread flooding around the facility.
    The Indian Navy opened its naval air base to operate rescue and relief efforts as the military struggled to evacuate thousands of residents stranded in Tamil Nadu state as the death toll from flooding rose to 269.
    Train services and flights to Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, remain cancelled and the navy has pressed fishing boats into service to evacuate people from the worst-hit suburbs to temples, schools and wedding halls.
    Predictions of incessant rainfall by the weather office meant that the army had to work on a war footing to rescue survivors trapped in inundated parts of Chennai, India's fourth most populous city.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has blamed climate change for the deluge, travelled to Chennai to get a first-hand view of a rescue effort.
    There was sporadic rainfall on Thursday, after a 24-hour cloudburst dumped as much as 345 mm (14 inches) of rain on the city earlier this week.
    Floods cut off more than three million people from basic services and hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has so far evacuated 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages.
    City authorities were deploying bulldozers and bags of concrete to repair collapsed roads, while several bridges were under water as urban lakes in the low-lying coastal city of six million overflowed.
    Meanwhile Navy chief R.K. Dhowan said the naval airbase INS Rijali near Chennai has been made functional. The Navy has also deployed divers, Gemini vessels and other vessels to cope with the disaster.
    "In addition, as you are aware, the whole of the airport at Chennai is gutted and no aircraft can take off. So INS Rajali which is our airbase in Arakkonam, which is 60 kilometers as the crow flies from Chennai, has been activated. All relief material as well as civil flights are operating from Arakkonam," said Dhowan.
    Additional rainfall of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) was predicted from Thursday through Sunday (December 6), meaning the situation could remain critical for several more days.
    The federal government pledged $141 million in immediate relief and launched a survey to assess losses to life and property.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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