Chennai residents raise houses to escape flood fury

With barely a month left for the onset of the north-east (NE) monsoon, Chennaiites living in low-lying, flood-prone areas have opted for "building lifting" to raise the height of their homes and avoid getting inundated.

As cities across the country, from Mumbai to Guwahati, faced the fury of flash floods this year, people living in low-lying areas in Chennai started preparing for the NE monsoon by raising their houses. Engineering companies in the city offering house-lifting services are flooded with inquiries and orders, particularly from residents in low-lying areas, which were submerged during the unprecedented flooding the city witnessed in November-December 2015.

With unplanned development, many localities in the city's have seen road heights go up over the years, literally sinking houses and apartments and leading to inundation even after a short spell of heavy rain. "The number of inquiries for house-lifting work went up manifold after the 2015 floods. We used to take three orders a month before 2015. Now we are taking 10 as more people opt for it," said Paramjeet Kaur, managing director of MCDM Engineering Works Pvt Ltd, one of the leading companies in the business.

She said that though they received orders from across the city, the maximum orders were from Madipakkam and Velacherry in South Chennai. The two areas were the worst affected localities during the 2015 flood. R Shanmugham, whose 10-year-old house in Madipakkam was raised by five feet last month, said that when his house was built, the floor was three feet above the road.

HIGH AND DRY

• Chennai received excess rainfall from south-west monsoon
   
• North-east monsoon which yields most of city’s rain to begin soon
   
• As such, many residents are looking to firms in the city that carry out building elevation