Tamil Nadu: 10 boats a lifeline for many in flooded Semmenchery

CHENNAI: At 5.30pm on Thursday, a small boat was waiting for passengers on a flooded main road at Semmenchery. The man at the helm collected 50 per head and took off with five people. After around 20 minutes, they reached the main gate of DLF Thalambur.
More boats passed by en route with residents, service staff, maids and vegetable vendors. For more than 20 days, 10 such boats have been the lifeline of families in 2,000 flats in the vast residential complex.As water has not receded since mid-November, marooned residents had hired boats to reach Tsunami Nagar or Thalambur to commute to work, buy supplies, bring maids and housekeeping staff. The local body gave two boats, the rest are run by fishermen who have been given a place to stay on the campus. The ferry service runs from 6am to 6pm.
K Rajkumar, a resident, said, "This has been happening every monsoon. People take boats and tractors to go to work, to study or to travel out. We have made a temporary entry on an unpaved road to bring trucks with vegetables and supplies. The day-to-day life is impacted. I have a work from home arrangement. But I have travelled by boat to reach the main road a few times. The association has arranged for everything on the campus." One supermarket is supplying vegetables and groceries. A few vegetable vendors too have come by boats and set up shops outside the complex.
Sources say the main road gets flooded due to excess water from a lake. A canal behind the residential complex has disappeared due to construction. Water from the lake continues to follow its course but has no place to drain because the waterway is blocked by encroachments and constructions. Residents say the flooding affects people in Tsunami Nagar and Thalambur apart from those in the DLF complex.
The authorities have widened a culvert and are building a bridge and some work to widen the water channel too has been done upstream.
An official of the residents association said, "We have made representations to the district administration and the local body. They have done some work. We hope the canal is retrieved so the area will not be flooded from next monsoon."