Just eight years after 2015, the terrifying scenes were back, not in a nightmare, but for real: inundated homes; people rescued by boats; floating cars; prolonged power cuts; residents bearing mounting financial losses. With Cyclone Michaung, which ironically did not even make landfall in Chennai, the city was again engulfed by floodwaters. Though lessons from the past stood us in good stead in limiting, to a great extent, the loss of precious lives, the other losses are nearly incalculable. In early December, the typical patterns of flooding and the city’s vulnerabilities came to the fore, and the fault lines were as obvious as the urgent need to address the crisis.
Another constant in the 2015 and 2023 floods was the closure of the airport, one runway of which has been constructed over the Adyar. Not surprisingly, it did spur discussions on what may come to pass if an airport is built on a vast wetland, as the second airport at Parandur is meant to. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence gave the site clearance for this project, and the State government has accorded the administrative sanction.
There are convincing arguments to make out the case that the Chennai airport will soon surpass its capacity for passenger traffic, and it has already fallen behind in freight traffic. But the fear of flooding in Chennai, and its neighbouring areas, looms large if wetlands are to be built over. Of the 5,746.18 acres of land on which the Parandur airport is to be built, 2,682.62 acres comprises wetlands.
