Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: Generally cloudy day for today.
🧐 Did you know? The Pallikaranai marshland witnesses over 50,000 bird species arriving every year.
👨💻 Cybercrime cases
Chennai ranks number 1 in cybercrime cases across the state.
What’s it about? Over the past 11 months, Chennai accounted for 21% of cybercrime cases registered in the state. The Cyber Crime Wing at Ashok Nagar got over 2.3 lakh calls that resulted in over 30,000 cases being registered.
- Two new commissionerates, Tambaram and Avadi, accounted for 3,039 and 2,208 cases respectively. The cases mainly have to do with investment and banking fraud. The money swindled is often withdrawn from ATMs abroad.
- One recent spate of scams is the misuse of WhatsApp display photos. It tricks people into believing the person requesting is known to them to buy vouchers.
What’s being done? Telecom operators have been asked to strengthen their networks to ensure there are no data thefts. The 1930 call centre will soon be upgraded to a 15-line call centre, working in three shifts with qualified cyber professionals.
🌊 Continued waterlogging
While the rains have subsided, the water levels didn’t recede in several localities.
What’s happening? As the intense spell of rain subsided, several localities were still inaccessible due to severe waterlogging and inundation. Water levels remained high in several parts of Tambaram, Velachery, and Saidapet.
- Disaster response personnel with boats were on hand to rescue families in AGS colony, Baby Nagar, Ram Nagar, and VGP Selva Nagar. In many of these places, water was at chest level.
- In places like Berline enclave road, residents struggled to shift to higher ground and were unable to reach authorities. In West Tambaram, boats were insufficient as water levels continued to rise.
Cyclone trajectory: Cyclone Michaung moved northwards toward coastal Andhra Pradesh as the state prepared for a heavy downpour.
✈️ Flight disruptions
Several flights were cancelled as Cyclone Michaung shut down the city’s airport.
What happened? Over 1,000 flights connecting Chennai were cancelled due to the heavy rains. The airport had to shut its runway and ground all planes as Cyclone Michaung made its way to the Tamil Nadu coast.
- IndiGo had to cancel 550 flights, while Vistara suspended 10 flights from Chennai. Affected fliers will be offered a waiver on cancellation and rescheduling fees.
- Air India cancelled 33 return flights across India and also waived rescheduling charges.
Operations resumed: Flight operations resumed on Tuesday morning as both IndiGo and Vistara announced flights were leaving and arriving at the Chennai airport.
⚖️ Questions about the night race
A Madras High Court bench referred PILs filed against the proposed Formula 4 night race to another bench.
What’s it about? With the Formula 4 night race just a few days away, the first Division Bench of the Madras High Court referred three public interest litigation petitions against the race to the third Division Bench.
- The Chief Justice was informed that the Bench led by Justice Mahadevan heard the matter over three days last week. He issued directions and wanted records concerning the race.
- The Chief Justice wanted the case to be listed before the same bench. Last Friday, the Bench called for an MoU between the state government and Racing Promotions Private Limited to conduct the race.
What’s the issue? The judges wanted to know if the Tamil Nadu government would get a share of revenue from sponsors and broadcast rights since the event is being conducted by a private company on public roads.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Is your locality a safe place for women during the night?
- My locality is a safe place for women during the night.
- My locality is not a safe place for women during the night.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Which Tamil news channel do you watch regularly?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Health Minister Ma Subramanian visited waterlogged areas in Saidapet to assess the damage.
- Supply of essential items in the city was affected due to the rainfall and floods.
- At least 11 people have died due to the heavy rains and floods caused by Cyclone Michaung.
- Social media platforms had a field day with memes and jokes as Cyclone Michaung approached Chennai.
- Aftermath of the cyclone through photos shows how Cyclone Michaung compared to the 2015 floods.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have used the Chennai Corporation’s emergency number: 40.0%
- I haven’t used the Chennai Corporation’s emergency number: 60.0% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
How did you prepare for the heavy rains in the city?
Shiva: “Parked my bike in the highest part of the platform. Bought Amulya (Dairy Whitener). Rava/Semiya”
Suchi: “Stocked on essentials”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!