Chennai rains: Passenger flights to operate from today; DGCA to review the situation for night operations

Chennai: Domestic passenger flight operations from Chennai airport, which were suspended, will resume from Sunday morning. The runway, however, will be available only for day-time operations and a decision regarding full-fledged operations will be taken by the aviation regulator DGCA, Airports Authority of India said on Sunday.

Announcing the start of day-time domestic commercial operations, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said on Saturday that decision on night operations would be taken on Sunday. Only technical flights and ferry services were operated on Saturday. However, intermittent rains and an overcast sky kept the people on their tenterhooks while waters receded in a number of areas.

Flood-ravaged Chennai and its suburbs enjoyed further respite from rains on Saturday but residents battled scarcity and high prices of essential commodities even as communication and train services were partially restored.

The Regional Meteorological Centre has forecast light rains in the next 24 hours for the city and suburbs. Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, S R Ramanan told reporters that heavy rains were possible in the coastal and southern districts of the state. He has advised fishermen of southern coastal districts against venturing into sea for fishing. At least 245 people have died in rain-related incidents since October one.

The worst-hit city and suburbs and Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts took a pounding on Tuesday when a large number of areas were flooded. The deluge destroyed crucial road and rail links, shutdown the airport, snapped power and telecom lines and left lakhs of people stranded. In a big relief to the hapless residents, supply of milk and vegetables picked up pace today but there were complaints of scarcity in several places coupled with high prices for essentials.

Mobile phone and internet services were getting restored in a staggered manner in several parts of the city. Several areas complained of continued power outage. Bringing cheers to stranded passengers, Southern Railway announced resumption of services to several inter-State destinations including Bengaluru and Mysore from here effective on Sunday. Also, local train services here resumed today between Egmore-Tambaram.

With PTI Inputs.