Floods, water crisis: Chennai feels climate change pinch, say experts

When the entire world is brainstorming on climate change at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP-26), the city of Chennai is seeing heavy rain that led to waterlogging and floods in its low-lying areas.

The manufacturing capital of India will be one of those rare cities in the world that may be seeing various extremes — flooding, shortage of water and sea-level rise — all in a year. Experts blame climate change for the surge in rain and sea-water levels, while shortage of water and flooding can be attributed to long-term over-extraction of ground water and poor planning.

NASA, in a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August this year, had named Chennai, along with Mumbai, among cities that are expected to be submerged by the end of this century. The report says that Chennai may sink by up to 1.87 feet under water.

Experts indicate that India will continue to see changing rainfall patterns, extended dry spells, droughts and heavy rainfall owing to global climate change. “We are looking at a wetter future with more of these extreme rainfall events due to climate change. With respect to flooding, it is true that we are getting large rainfall in one spell, but it is more to do with the way cities are planned and its land used,” said Indu K Murthy, principal research scientist, adaptation and risk analysis, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy.

The flood situation is likely to intensify as the meteorological department forecast heavy to very heavy rain at a few places and isolated extremely heavy spells, too, on November 10 and 11 in Tamil Nadu. This is in addition to an Orange alert on November 9. Sunday’s rain reminded Chennai residents of the 2015 inundation that claimed more than 500 lives. During the February-June period of this year, the state was seeing severe ground water shortage. According to a study by Anna University a few years ago, this was mainly due to the decline in water bodies by 75 per cent from 12.6 square kilometers in 1893 to 3.2 sq km in 2017.

“Taking a cue from 2015, the government should have planned for some nature-based solutions for managing floods and preserving groundwater. The ground water issue is more complex as it involves over extraction and misuse of water over a long period.” 

The city is also seeing a rise in sea level at the rate of 0.33 mm per year, according to a study by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. “We are ahead of others in terms of climate-resilient infrastructure,” said Kamal Kishore, member secretary, NDMA and India co-chair of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastr­ucture’s executive committee.

Industry pegs loss at Rs 1,700 cr

The floods and waterlogging have caused a loss of at least Rs 1,700 crore for business units in and around Chennai, according to estimates by the industry on Monday. This is less than losses of Rs 15,000 crore for the industries during the 2015 floods.   All the major automakers, including TVS, Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, and Renault-Nissan, said their units remained unaffected by the rains. “Production is going perfectly,” said Biju Balendran, managing director of Renault Nissan Automotive India.

Industry associations, however, said small enterprises were the most affected. “Losses of around Rs 1,700 crore are estimated, mainly in the form of damaged equip­ment and production losses. We request the government for a package for MSMEs,” said Suresh Krishnamurthy, president of Hindustan Chamber of Commerce and CEO of India Cements Capital.