What are the reasons for flooding in Chennai city?

Floods take place because of many reasons. One is because of climate change, the rainfall pattern is
changing. Suddenly we are getting huge rainfall in 1 or 2 days and if you receive huge volume of water,
then it is difficult to dispose off that water.

Secondly, Chennai city has developed a lot. There is a negative impact of urbanization. And that too,
unplanned urbanization is worse. When you are going for urbanization, you are increasing the
impervious surface. Whatever rain we get, it is not seeping into the ground and that water will flow
faster. When, from a huge area, water is accumulating in 1 place and trying to go to the low area, there
is no escape route.

Chennai is a flat city. Water will not drain out easily.

We don’t have enough drains. Though the authorities clean it, it does not have enough design capacity
and we also have bad habits. We are throwing litter like plastics choking the drain outlets.

All these things combined with huge rain, in high tide time, water will not pass into the ocean. For all
these reasons floods are taking place.

In the upstream side (upper side), there was open area which was not urbanized, like Kanchipuram. So
in that area and even in the city also we had many lakes. Over the time, because of lack of maintainance
and encroachment, they have lost the hydraulic connection and capacity. But they used to behave like a
flood ______ . They will store that water and then that open area water will flow into the sea.

(there is some time for the water to flow off or permeate)

If you combine all these things, we are getting more water than what we can dispose off in this part of
Chennai Metropolitan area.

How to tackle the problem?

Given the present situation, we cannot tackle a flood like 2015 so easily, which is beyond the scope. But
we manage floods like 2005. There are many options.

(regarding the initiative)

It’s not like it will do some miracle because inside the city I don’t think we have that much space. There
might only be a small area for this dedicated space. So, what it can do is, whatever water is there in the
neighbouring roads or areas, it can flow into that system and over time slowly it will seep in. This is a
good concept. If 1 or 2 of them are built up before this northeast monsoon, we can see the performance
and then increase the number.

Given the situation, you have to go for different options. This is 1 option. I think is in a good direction but
how and where it is constructed is important. It has to be done very scientifically.
I prefer to refer to the historical flood maps and ongoing projects that study the flooding condition
patterns and analyze where flooding is taking place frequently and in those areas I will target first. It
should not be in arbitrary space. It is not like an equity or equality kind of thing. It should be targeted
based on the flood prone area.

This is a complimentary measure which is also required. Other options are also available in low impact
development. For example, when you are building your house, if you have open area, don’t concrete it
and use blocks so that water can seep in. it may look like a small area but if entire Chennai does it, it will
help.

If you got to the Velachery side, if there is 2 hours of rain, stagnation of water takes place. This initiative
may drain out the area.

I would say that this is a well-developed concept. During the wet season, it will act as a sponge and
during the dry season it will be like a hard surface so that it can be used as a park. During the wet season
it will act as a sponge so that water will get into the system.

What I am thinking is, since Chennai is a built up area, space will be limited for such an initiative and
thus, we cannot go for too many things. If we follow the technicality thoroughly, we may see changes.

Construction is very important because there will be layer by layer different materials. If that is not done
properly, what may happen eventually is, all the water will accumulate there and not seep in properly
and remain as stagnant water. This will create more problems. The efficiency needs to be seen.