Chennai, Oct 3 (IANS): After the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) predicted above-normal rain due to the northeast monsoon, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has purchased 36 boats as a precautionary measure.

The Tamil Nadu government has appointed 15 IAS officers on special duty to oversee monsoon preparedness in each zone of Chennai. The officers will be in charge of preparedness, planning, relief and mitigation of all the zones in the Greater Chennai corporation.

The monsoon is expected to set in by the end of October and the RMC has stated that there would be heavy rain in many parts of the state.

The GCC was also identifying vulnerable areas, mapping and analysis, preparedness of institutional arrangements and pre-positioning of human resources.

The corporation authorities are taking measures for capacity building, mitigation measures, sanitisation of other stakeholders, traffic management plan, communication, relief arrangements and medical preparedness.

GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran said that the corporation was seeking the services of dedicated community volunteers to assist with the flood mitigation efforts.

On December 2023, due to Cyclone Michaung, Chennai Corporation received heavy rain and the city received close to 400 mm of average rainfall for two days - from 8.30 a.m. on December 4 to 8.30 a.m. on December 5. The city faced widespread flooding and waterlogging during and after the rain.

Several questions were raised on systemic issues and disaster preparedness. Local people had complained that relief operations were poor and there was no forewarning.

K. M. Natarajan, a retired officer with a Public Sector bank, who witnessed waterlogging during the 2023 floods in Chennai, told IANS: "The relief system was poor, we ran out of provisions as there were no forewarnings. We could have stocked up our provisions if provided forewarning.”

The 2023 floods have claimed 17 lives and affected thousands.