Thursday, December 10, 2015

Overflowing drain, not Adyar, flooded airport

Last week, as planes floated around the flooded airport, Airports Authority of India officials thought the rising River Adyar nearby was the culprit. The real cause, some airport staff say, was that a drain linking Pallavaram with the Adyar (see pic) was filled with water from surrounding areas and, through openings on the tarmac, inundated the operation area. Along came tonnes of garbage.

Airlines officials and other staff at the airport have for years been urging the AAI to talk to the local body concerned and get the drain sealed off. Many such drains, designed to carry rain water from Pallavaram, Meenambakkam and nearby neighbourhoods, run across the airport campus.

The airport was flooded, AAI officials assumed, because of the second runway built across the river. In reality, water from the drain overflowed on to the taxiway, runway and apron in front of international terminal at the time the Adyar overflowed.

Airport staff watching the water level in front of the international terminal rise said it was flowing from the Pallavaram-end of the main runway to the end where the domestic terminal is located. Water flowed into the basement of the terminals.

"It was flowing slowly like a river flooding the entire area used for operating planes. The drifting garbage showed that the water was flowing from Pallavaram side. The water broke the compound walls and flowed into Adayar river," said an airport staffer.
10/12/15 V.Ayyappan/The Times Of India
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