And the rains came to Madras...

As you might have heard, Chennai was in the news last week because of the major flooding that occurred here. It had been raining pretty much every day since I got back, so I didn't really realize that it had rained continuously for 24 hours, starting in the afternoon of October 26th. You might be thinking that a country that has monsoons should be prepared for something like this; however, I have been informed that Chennai doesn't actually have a proper monsoon. I actually once heard it described as a "reverse monsoon." The monsoons that hit the western coast of India head northeast across the country, but are driven back by the mountains. This backlash is what hits Chennai.

Normally, there is only moderate rainfall during this time. However, as I mentioned earlier, it had been raining almost every day since October 19th. The drainage here is not equipped to deal with a steady rainfall, which resulted in the flooding of October 27th. The parking lot in my apartment complex was covered with water up to my ankles. The road outside my apartment complex was covered up to my calves. In many other parts of the city, it was even worse. I heard 11 people actually died from stepping on downed power lines throughout the city. Needless to say, the company was unable to get a cab to pick me up for work. [Yes, I was still expected to turn up for work that day. In fact, I later found out that they wanted me to be there to help TRAIN the 90 or so students that actually made it to work then (that's less than half of the normal amount.) As if anyone was thinking about LEARNING in the midst of that! But that's what my boss was more concerned about, rather than the fact that we were facing an emergency situation. (Yes, let's bring in more people that we'll have to transport back, especially since they were unable to get the people that worked the shift that ended at 8:00 AM home until noon.) What a great company I work for!]

I did actually walk down the street in the afternoon to get some lunch, groceries and minutes for my phone. Boy, it was quite an experience-then only shallow part was in the middle of the road, which you had to share with the few cars, autorickshaws & bikes that were out. As you may imagine, I was completely soaked and ready for a nice, warm shower when I got back! :)