Chennai rains: Flooded city airport shut till 6 am tomorrow

Chennai: As heavy rains continued to lash Chennai, the city's airport became a casualty as it had to be shut following flooding.

Runways and other areas of the airport were in water as there was no respite in rains that have been lashing Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu for days now.

The authorities said all operations at the airport have been suspended till at least 6 am tomorrow.

All the flights to and from Chennai have been cancelled or diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

“Operations at the Chennai airport have been shut as water started entering airfield,” said Deepak Shastri, Chennai airport director.

“All operations at Chennai airport stopped for rest of the day, all flights stand cancelled,” he added.

IMD director general LS Rathore said the airport got flooded as it is in a low-lying area.

“Chennai airport is in a low-lying area. With rainfall likely to continue, it's not a good situation,” Rathore said.

Meanwhile, NDRF teams were facing difficulties in reaching rain-affected Chennai and other parts of the state due to closure of airport.

“Our teams from Odisha and Bihar are not able to land in Chennai due to waterlogging at the airport,” NDRF DG OP Singh said.

“As soon as Chennai airport is functional, we will send additional teams from Delhi and Bhubaneshwar,” he added.