Chennai Airport reopens after 4-day closure

(AFP) Chennai: India’s main airport in flood-devastated Tamil Nadu state reopened on 6 December as emergency workers strove to help thousands of residents forced to flee their inundated homes.

The international airport in the state capital Chennai had closed on Wednesday leaving thousands of passengers stranded, after record rains worsened flooding that has claimed nearly 300 lives since 9 November.

“There was no damage to the runway. It remained under water for a few days but has been cleared now,” national Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma said as passengers started to gather at the terminal.

“We had a few relief flights yesterday from the airport and today commercial flights have resumed their services.”

Thousands of residents have been rescued by boat or plucked from rooftops after the floods left much of Chennai, a city of more than four million, underwater. Power supplies and phone networks were also hit.

Soldiers and other emergency workers who poured into the southeastern state have now switched to rushing food, clean drinking water and medical supplies to hard-hit residents.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the floods as a consequence of climate change, as top negotiators meet in Paris to try to agree on reducing the rate of global warming. Experts have said poor urban planning had likely worsened the disaster.

India suffers severe flooding every year during the annual monsoon rains from June to September.