Chennai floods leave everyone in deep water

The recent floods have devastated life of everyone in Chennai, capital city of southern Indian state Tamilnadu, and its surrounding districts. The living conditions of people from all walks of life were damaged severely.

Chennai's industrial and business hubs have been affected resulting in trillions of crore losses. Insurance claims have peaked to decade high after the floods.

Right from essential food supplies to industrial output, Chennai floods damaged everything in the capital city and surrounding areas. Global and national automobile majors located in Kanchipuram suffered huge production losses.

The floods have also halted the raw material supplies as well. Auto major such as Ford, Nissan, BMW, Hyundai, Renault-Nissan, TVS and Ashok Leyland have operations in Chennai.

Indian Express reported that more than 165 listed companies on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have business operations in Chennai. The market capitalization of these listed companies is INR 285,000 crore ($1,497 billion).

In a recent investors' meet held in September, the Tamilnadu government had attracted INR2.42 lakh crore investment proposals. The floods have affected the prospects of these investment proposals to a great extent.

The floods in Chennai have brought over nine million people to its knees. The insurance claims also include property loss, business loss. The claims for loss of business would be much more value. A majority of people are claiming for insurance value for vehicle loss.

Insurance companies receiving a huge number of claims after the floods devastated the life in Chennai.

The claims that should be immediately paid are to the tune of INR1,000 crore ($149.7 million) as live mint reported. Insurance companies such as Lombard General Insurance, American International Group Inc (AIG) are gearing up for a sudden rise in claims that soaring to 10-year high.

All the communication channels were damaged by floods. People are suffering as there's no electricity supply in the city. Telephone services were also severely hit. Transportation became a havoc in the inundated roads.

Business Standard reported that industrial body The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) initially on the third day of rains estimated the loss for the industry at INR15,000 crore ($15 billion). The Tamilnadu state government puts an initial loss at INR 8,481 crore ($1.26 billion). More than 72,000 people were taking shelter in 432 relief camps.

Surplus water in Poondi reservoir, a major source of drinking water for Chennai, released creating more havoc in the low-lying areas. The water level in Chembarambakkam, Puzhai and Sholavaram reservoirs reached danger levels.