There are some things which you never think will happen to you till they actually do. I had heard first hand stories of people being stranded in cities or cars due to rains, volcanic ash or something else. I never thought it would happen to me, though, there was no reason why it would not. This is a real account of what happened with me and my colleague during the recent Chennai floods where we were stranded on Chennai Airport for 36 hours.
I reached Chennai on the afternoon of Monday, 30th November. I had seen the weather forecast while I was packing my bag and saw that there was 100% chance of rain on Tuesday. It didn't change my plans much as I knew I would be shuttling between different locations in a cab and would be back to Pune on Tuesday night. My drive from the airport to my relatives house was quite uneventful. It did drizzle a bit but everything was normal. In a few hours though around 7.30 PM, it started raining and it just didn't stop. It rained the entire night and was raining in the morning of Tuesday too. I had 3 meetings on Tuesday in Chennai. As the day progressed, all three got cancelled due to the rain.
My colleague had come to Chennai since Sunday and he had hired a car with a driver so we had transportation to go to the airport. We left for the airport at 5 PM for a 10:20 PM flight. Normally the journey doesn't take more than an hour so even with the expected traffic and water logging we figured we will reach in maximum two hours and then will have to kill time there. How wrong were we to be proved later! The traffic was so bad that we covered barely 5 kilometers in 2.5 hours. We were literally inching our way forward. But apart from one water logged road there wasn't any problem.
All that changed when we reached an area called Guindy. We had taken a diversion and were about to join a main road. The road was one way with a huge divider. Our driver stepped out for a bio-break and came back saying there's a lot of water. Most of the traffic was trying to get to the farther side of the divider where it was not water logged. Our driver lost patience (anyone would) and took the car in the near side and we were now in water. We quickly put our windows down in the event that if the doors don't open we had an escape route. Suddenly we felt water coming into the car. It rose up to seat almost and we knew the time was coming near to get out of the car. As expected, the car stalled and now we had no option but to get out. We quickly took our laptop bags and suitcases out. The water had entered the boot as well. We started wading through knee deep water with our bags over our heads and got to the other side. A lot of people had got out of cars and were walking. We tried to see if there were any hotels nearby where we could stay before figuring out the next plan of action.
At this point, we met our first angel. A traffic policeman upon hearing our predicament, started stopping every possible car to see if they could get us to the airport. This was a man with his hands overfull with the rain, water and traffic but willing to help two strangers who were clearly not from this city or state. After 6 cars refused to help for valid reasons, we met our second angel. This stranger said he will drop us to the airport without even mentioning any financial remuneration. Later we found out he didn't even want to go to the airport but went out of the way to drop us there. Such instances of strangers going out of their way to help those in need have been the cornerstone of the recovery in the Chennai floods.
On the airport we quickly changed into whatever remaining dry clothes that we have. That was a bit hard to find so my ensemble was a formal shirt, shorts and leather shoes. I wasn't too worried as function was more important than fashion and I was expecting to be in Pune in a few hours. We were checked in by our airline and told that the flight was on time. The airport was already very crowded though and there was no space in the lounge. We were hungry so we had a good dinner where we got a message saying our flight has been delayed to 12 midnight. However around 10 PM we heard the news that all flights have been cancelled and the airport is shut down. Having seen the condition of the roads outside the airport we knew that there is no way for going out. Thus started our marathon stay at the airport.
At the airport, we were near the departure gates. Hence there was no dearth of options to eat, drink or even buy a few supplies. I bought myself a book to combat the boredom and some socks to combat the cold. We spread some newspapers on the carpet and also got some sleep. Though it was not the most comfortable option it wasn't bad. We could hear the rain pouring down throughout the night and there was a TV showing the local news. One look at the horrible condition of the people in the low lying areas and we thanked our stars that we were stuck at the airport and not outside. We had continuous electricity along with food and water. The airport was the safest place that night.
The next morning we saw the condition of the runway and taxi area and we knew then and there that no flight will take off. The area was completely submerged with water.
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| In no condition to take-off |
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| Chennai Airport shut down |
After one night at the airport everyone was in a frenzy to get out. People were trying to arrange for cabs but of course no company in their right senses would send a cab to the airport. It was just impossible to get there due to the flooded roads. There were people trying to arrange buses to go to Bangalore. All this was being done by passengers. The airlines were helpless and the airport authority too didn't have any constructive message. It seemed as if no one was ready to take a call on the evacuation nor were they confident that the passengers should stay put at the airport. We kept getting snippets of information from airport and airline officials. It was up to us whom to trust and take our call. Luckily we also had some local experts telling us not to get out of the airport as the situation in the city was quite bad. I had no mobile coverage while my colleague had sporadic coverage that too in one particular location of the airport. We were using the plug point near a TV to charge our phone and a landline to call at home.
In the afternoon, there was an announcement that there will be buses which will go to Bangalore. On hearing this everyone crowded near the exit. There were 400 - 500 people with all their luggage crowding near 1 small door. The buses showed no signs of coming and when we told our plan to go to Bangalore to local experts they were quite skeptical because the water hadn't receded. After some time we heard that the buses were arranged on the insistence of some passengers and was not an airport authority initiative. We took a call to not get on the buses which we anyway might have missed due to the sheer volume of people trying to get on them. It meant one more night at the airport but our reasoning was that it would be better than getting stranded in the middle of a water logged road.
Since we had now come in to the arrival area our options for food were quite limited. Still there was a CCD outlet there and we had stocked up on some food and sweets. Again, our airline called us to give us dinner. I keep on mentioning the food part because of an article which I read in the Times of India, Pune edition on Saturday where one of our fellow passengers is complaining about not getting anything to eat from Tuesday night to Wednesday night. This is complete over exaggeration. We were stuck in the same place and had multiple options to eat along with airlines themselves giving meals. Even if the airlines didn't provide meals, you could get a wholesome meal veg or non-veg for 100 - 150 rupees. It was really disappointing to read this in the paper considering the horrible state of the local people caught in the floods throughout Tamil Nadu.
Our options to sleep were now slightly limited as there are no carpets in the arrival area. However my colleague resourcefully found a carpet area on the conveyor belt. We spread newspapers there and made our bed. I also spotted a Sari shop and remembering that I felt cold the previous night, I bought the cheapest sari from the shop to use as a blanket. Thus our second night also passed peacefully.
We woke up to a dark Chennai airport the next morning. In the middle of the night the power ran out due to water. This was a clear sign for us to now think of evacuating the airport as now there was no electricity and limited food options available. Thankfully the rain had receded significantly and we hadn't heard of any problem for for the 5-6 buses which went out last night. Right on cue, we heard news that a bus was about to arrive at the airport. This bus would then take us to a metro station from where we were to catch the metro to another station and take a bus to Bangalore. Thus, there were 3 legs of the journey to safety.
The first leg from Chennai Airport to Alandur metro stations was uneventful. There was one patch of road which was water logged with a big crater but the bus didn't have a problem. The metro station was crowded but manageable and we got into the metro. The metro was over-ground and went very slowly but without any problems. However, on this journey we saw the terrible state of the city and its people. There were cars stranded and parked on flyovers as it was impossible to go further. People were wading through chest deep water with bags on their heads. Ground floors and first floors of buildings were completely submerged. Bridges were underwater or completely filled with debris. Cars were left stranded half under water. The journey was an eye-opener to how lucky we were to be at the airport in a dry place with power, food and water.
Once again, locals helped us out by telling us the correct station to get out on which was CMBT station. There we found a bus to take us to Bangalore. That journey was also uneventful and once we reached the highway we knew we were safe. We stayed in a hotel in Bangalore that night and came back to Pune 3.5 days later than scheduled.
One thing which irked me a lot was the unverified and false reporting done by the media. On Thursday night in Bangalore I saw a news flash on Times Now that 1000 people were stranded at the airport. This was totally false. When we left the domestic terminal there were less than 100 people on the airport. Such false reporting adds to the fear and panic of those watching the news. One good friend who helped a lot in Chennai posted on Facebook saying just go by social media where you are more likely to get verified first hand information rather than news channels.
Coming to the airlines, while there wasn't much they could do in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster, it didn't stop them from making a huge profit in these conditions. The Bangalore to Pune flight on Thursday night was for 25,000 rupees. Bangalore to Delhi was even more than that while Bangalore - Indore - Delhi was 56,000 rupees! We get angry when rickshaws charge double rates. This was even worse.
As I write this, the recovery has begun in Tamil Nadu and things are slowly getting better. Hopefully the sun will start shining brightly again, but the real ray of sunshine has been the unselfish work done by so many good Samaritans to help those in need.
