Chennai struggles to get even the bare essentials

There were queues all over Chennai on Friday. The incessant rains and extensive flooding has left the city’s residents woefully short of day-to-day essentials such as water, bread, milk and even cash and fuel.

Where bottled water or milk was available, it was sold at twice the going rate by many shopkeepers, even to the poorest.

With no power or telecom services, debit and credit cards were of no use. Computer systems failed in banks; ATMs ran out of cash or did not work. A message from a private bank advised its customers to opt for Internet banking. Some of its branches and ATMs would remain closed due to the rains, it said.

But downed telecom networks and households without power supply for three-four days meant that online services were simply not available.

Shop staff and petrol bunk attendants warned customers not to bother if they did not have cash on hand, as card machines were not working.

On most of the flooded streets traffic was sparse. Offices, industries and most retail businesses were shut and even the normally bustling shopping centres in T Nagar and Parrys in North Chennai wore a deserted look.

But there was one exception – shops selling electricity generators in the narrow lanes of North Chennai.

With power supply cut in most parts of the city, residents were lining up to purchase gensets. But these, too, were in short supply.

“Normally, I expect to sell a few pieces a day. But over the last few days there has been a demand for more than 50 pieces a day,” said a dealer.

People with wads of cash could be seen waiting in the rain on Mooker Nallamuthu Street to purchase a unit.

“Without power supply, the house has come to halt as there is no water to drink or wash,” lamented a customer, as he waited in knee-deep water. Although there has been some improvement in the flood situation, with even the most basic services unavailable, there is no indication on when life will return to normalcy in Tamil Nadu’s capital.

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