Indian troops battle deadly flooding

(MENAFN- Arab News) CHENNAI: The heaviest rainfall in over a century caused widespread flooding across the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu driving thousands of people from their homes shutting down factories and paralysing the airport in the state capital Chennai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered rescue teams and paramilitary forces to launch an extensive relief and rescue operation in Chennai.
India's fourth-largest city is a major auto manufacturing and IT outsourcing hub for companies including Ford Motor BMW AG Infosys Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.
Thousands of factories on the outskirts of the city were forced to close due to the deluge which disrupted power supplies and swamped at least one runway at the international airport. About 25 flights were canceled as of Wednesday morning the national emergency operations center said.
'We have started the rescue operation but the biggest challenge is to find a way to clear the inundated airport and main roads' said Anurag Gupta a senior official at the National Disaster Management Authority in New Delhi.
Weather experts say the seasonal northeast monsoon was responsible for the flooding in the city of at least 6 million which like many other parts of India lacks an adequate drainage system.
At least twice as much rain fell in the last 24 hours as the average for the whole month of December private weather forecaster Skymet said adding that the downpour would continue for another 24 hours.
Meteorologists had warned late last month that the remnants of Typhoon Marilyn or In-Fa and which had formed near the Philippines could turn into a tropical depression and bring heavy rains to India's east coast.