And mind you, this is not the usual Chennai rain, which is a brief pitter-patter for 5-odd
minutes after which the sun comes up brightly. This time, it has been raining heavily a la
Kerala-style and the sun seems to have gone on vacation for the last 2 days.
While rain is a good thing, the problem with too much of it is that it exposes the poor roads
we have and the almost non-existent storm-water drainage system. Which means, the sides
of the roads get flooded with water. So, if a road has 2 lanes, one of them would be full of water and motorists would avoid that lane because there is no knowing what could be below the
water - potholes or even big ditches that can swallow a car whole.
As a family learnt to their dismay when they were negotiating a water-logged road last week. Their Tata-Sumo (an 8-seater people-mover) just vanished into a big water-filled ditch dug alongside the road. Luckily there were some people around who rescued the 3 passengers & driver from the rapidly sinking vehicle. The vehicle was eventually pulled out by a crane.
See pic below of the Sumo in the ditch, courtesy The Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
A few more days of such rain in Chennai and we would need to swap our cars/bikes for rafts
or boats to take us around.
No comments:
Post a Comment