Stormy situation

When I was a school going kid, I hardly remember Chennai being hit by any unnatural weather condition with the only constant weather being hot sun all day and humid nights. Cloud bursts, unseasonal rains, historic heavy downpour, months’ worth of rain falling on a single day were all unheard-of phenomena. The only indication for rain, other than the usual retreating monsoon, being, if it was more than usual hotter during the daytime, it may potentially rain during the night. The street next to my house, on the way to my school, will become a mini swimming pool even for slight drizzles. We were staying on a chawl kind of setup with common bathroom toilet, that would overflow with stagnant water. The door frames of the restroom and the pipeline inside will be teeming with cockroaches of all sizes and color, that made might have traumatized me for life. Different post for a different time. 

During my college days, the rains began to get messier with water logging becoming a common occurrence. Knee deep water was beginning to be an expected reality in many places. In the past decade, cyclones and storms have become so common that come November/December, people have already got accustomed to interruptions to their normal life due to inclement weather. Gaja, Vardah, Neelam, Oki have all visited Chennai in not so distant past and have left behind impressions on many people’s life and livelihood. Michaung joins the illustrious list of those “visitors” who have introduced so many meteorological terms to common man that people are quite familiar with so many things about weather nowadays. Right from how it is measured to how much was the rainfall previous years et al. They could regale stats like cricket scores of their favorite players and are battle hardened, bracing for worser situation each passing year. But when the mishap happens, it becomes hell for those 3 4 days, at least, having made to struggle without necessities in life which are otherwise taken for granted. Having been forced to pass days and nights without water, electricity and above all no internet to post about the misery must’ve all made the public, beware of contingency measures needed to overcome such situations. But plans and preparedness can only stave so much of nature’s fury when it goes unrelenting for several days. The last raindrop that I am aware of as part of Michaung fell 5 days before and there are still waterlogged streets and areas were entire ground floors of many structures have completely submerged in water. There are areas where schools have reopened but kids must be shuttled in boats because of tummy deep water. Areas where sewage has mixed with drinking water and have flooded low lying houses, with people being forced to eat and sleep on the same place having nowhere else to go or in the fear of leaving their homes unattended. There have been cases of burglary where creeps have taken advantage of this situation and have looted many places. The less said about vehicles the better for many have their livelihood at stake having lost their mode of commute. Towing guys and mechanics are minting money cashing in on the damages caused to vehicles leaving the public in wonderment as to which was worse – whether the actual storm or the aftermath.   

Every single section of the society from HNI’s to housing boards to slums have been impacted and with natures equitable approach in throwing a “dampener” on everyone’s life, the response from public has been unanimous and common. Governments can only do so much in the aftermath of such calamities which people are beginning to understand. Their main bug bear being the lack of proactive arrangements and rampant misuse of lake beds and rivers resulting in widespread and unregulated urbanization. Every cyclone teaches us who is the boss and despite teaching the same syllabus storm after storm, the brainstorming babus have hardly taken note of the actions required to safeguard against the next disaster. Replace Chennai with any other city, I am quite sure the situation would be no different. We are having land slides in mountains, cave-in’s on busy roads, bridges getting washed away, coastal areas inundated with floods and erosion. Wonder if deserts are the way to go for future settlements!!!