CHANNAI, India, Dec. 2 (UPI) — At least 188 people have died in floods in India’s Tamil Nadu state since last month.
Thousands of people, stranded by heavy rain in the past two days, have been rescued by India’s military, and Chennai, formerly called Madras, the area’s largest city with a population of about 7 million, has been struck by power failures in about 60 percent of its neighborhoods. Airports are flooded, all flights are suspended, all hospitals evacuated, and schools were closed Tuesday for the 17th day since the start of November.
India’s major newspaper, The Hindu, did not publish on Tuesday for the first time since 1878, although its Internet presence advised residents of Tamil Nadu of conditions and advice on coping with the floods.
Rivers remain swollen and all reservoirs in the state were reported full.
In a 24-hour period ending Tuesday morning, Chennai got 3.1 inches of rain. Weather forecasters predicted no letup in the rain for Wednesday.
