Every year, Chennai is flooded in the months of October to December. The city, which relies primarily on the North East monsoons for almost 48 percent of its rainfall, is inundated by floodwater and the National Disaster Response Force is usually called in to help.
This year, cyclone Vardah made its landing on December 12, taking ten lives before weakening. The largest loss of life was that of the cities’ trees – over 12000 trees were uprooted by winds as strong as 120 kmph.
Perhaps more predictable than the extreme weather is the aversion to a permanent solution to the problem. As cities continue to grow without restraint, their ecosystems pay the toll. Chennai has among the lowest areas under green cover in the country, at 24 square kilometers . To put this into context, Delhi has 180, Bangalore 97 and Hyderabad 88.4.
With this in mind, the loss of 12,000 is no small matter. You’d imagine that illegal urban felling of trees would dwarf this number – but it takes up about 1,500 trees a year in Chennai. It could be worse. Hurricane Hudhud in 2014 stripped Vishakapatnam of up to 80% of its tree cover.
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