Background
Chennai, India has been experiencing recordbreaking rains and flooding since early November. Beginning on 1 December, the rain intensified again creating more flooding and causing thousands of people to be stranded and trapped. An estimated 188 people have died, and over 200,000 have been displaced (source). Earlier in the week 3500 were stranded at Chennai Airport. Recent reports estimate it to be approximately 700. The airport is closed until 6 December, and Rajali Naval Air Station 70 km away will operate as a civilian airport temporarily (source). Over 5,207 roads are flooded according to a crowdsourced map (source), 23 trains have been cancelled, and voice lines and ATM's are down throughout the area. Those that do have phone signal, are losing battery with no way to charge. As of 2 December, 60% of Chennai City was without power. (source)
Chennai City has also started releasing 20,000 cubic feet per second of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adyar. A flood warning has been issued, and families along the Adyar River have been told to move to safer places. The state government has also mobilized fishing boats to assist in rescue and relief. (source)
22 NDRF rescue teams have been deployed to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The Indian Army and Air Force have also deployed personnel and helicopters and have been conducting rescue and relief operations. (source
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has asked people who need rescue to email requests to tn04ndrf@nic.in and copy to ndmacontrolroom@gmail.com. They will not respond to tweets sent to them. In Twitter follow National Disaster Mgt India https://twitter.com/ndmaindia/status/671946587329855488 #ChennaiRains Resource lists can be found at www.chennairains.org