Chennai Airport Temporarily Shut Down Due to Rains, Water Reaches Runway

As the rain fury continues in the city, the Chennai airport has shut down calling off all operations. "The airport as of now is closed for all operations as water has reached the runway and we are not ready to take any chance," said Deepak Shastri, airport director.

While it's the second time that the airport is facing a shut down the present one has lasted longer than the earlier one which continued for around 75 minutes as the runway came peeling off.

The airport came to a standstill around 8:30 p.m. following the inclement weather that persisted whole day. "We will be reviewing the situation and then take a call on things," said Shastri adding that priority will be given to taking off of flights.

"There are several flights stranded. But landing is unsafe as of now and riskier than taking off as there is water on runway, and presently land seems more dangerous than the air. So taking off of flights will be considered first because it's a matter of land to air, but sequentially we will take up landing also," Shastri noted.

While earlier a review meeting was decided around 11:00 p.m., the director noted that he is yet to get a picture of the entire situation. Hinting that a full review will be available only post midnight he noted that his team is still working on it and will decide on things soon.

While the exact number of stranded flights or passengers is not available currently, Shastri said that all passengers stranded at the airport are being taken care of by the AAI. "We are looking after them here and are providing them with food and shelter," he said. Nevertheless no transportation facilities are available for the passengers as the city traffic too has almost come to a standstill after several roads being flooded.