States » SouthPosted at: Oct 18 2026 4:24PM


Vijay deputes Ministers to rain hit areas, reviews arrangements, flights disrupted

Chennai, Oct 18 (UNI) As extremely heavy rains pounded Chennai, suburbs and North coastal districts, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay on Sunday deputed Ministers to oversee relief works in rain-hit and water stagnated areas and later reviewed arrangements put in place
at the master control room with the officials, even as arrival and departure of more than 20 flights were affected as the showers were accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning.
As the Met office has issued a Red Alert for Chennai, four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Arakkonam and four companies of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed for rescue and relief works in Chennai.
The Chennai Corporation has deployed more than 15,000 workers to engage in relief works, including clearing uprooted trees and to drain out rain water in stagnated areas. A total of nine relief centres, with all basic amenities were opened to house people evacuated from low lying areas and food and medical arrangements were also put in place.
Meanwhile, airport sources said heavy rain has disrupted over 20 flights at Chennai airport since Saturday late evening to Sunday morning, with an IndiGo flight carrying 184 passengers from Kolkata was diverted to Hyderabad after it could not land in Chennai due
to the bad weather. More than 10 flights arriving from cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Tiruchy and Kolkata were forced to hover in midair for an extended period before landing one after another situation eased.
About 10 flights scheduled to depart from Chennai, including domestic services to Madurai, Kochi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi, were delayed by one to two hours. International services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lanka, Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi were also delayed.
Meanwhile, Vijay has directed his Cabinet colleagues to return to Chennai and deputed them to various wards to expedite the rescue and relief operations and take necessary steps in areas affected by waterlogging.
A total of eight ministers were deputed to oversee rain relief and rescue operations across 15 Zones in the city. While Minister Aadhav Arjuna has been appointed as the coordinating minister to supervise flood preparedness and relief measures in the city, other Ministers were assigned zones to oversee relief works. The Ministers have been asked to coordinate with officials and ensure that precautionary measures and relief operations are carried out without delay.
Aadhav Arjuna also inspected several waterlogged areas and war rooms and said 15,000 civic workers were deployed on rain-related duty.
UNI GV 1620
Tags: #Vijay deputes Ministers to rain hit areas# reviews arrangements# flights disrupted
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