The Chennai Conundrum: How Is the Coastal City Both Dry and Drowning?

From floods to droughts, we explain Chennai's climate crisis through these documentaries and a multimedia immersive.

It has become an annual affair for Chennai to hit the headlines for its frequent flood and drought-like scenarios.

(GIF: The Quint)

It has become an annual affair for Chennai to hit the headlines for its frequent flood and drought-like scenarios.

The south Indian port has become a case study in what can go wrong when industrialization, urbanisation and extreme weather converge, and a booming metropolis paves over its floodplains and waterways to satisfy demand for new homes, factories and offices.

Before it is too late, there is a need to save Chennai from choking and sinking.

And the Pallikaranai wetland is the city's only saving grace. It is said to be the lone wetland in Chennai that helps prevent floods. The marsh acts as a sponge, storing monsoon rains and releasing them during dry months.

But now the marsh has shrunk in size. And turned from a carbon sink to a methane pool.

To understand the scale, severity and potential solutions to the crisis, we must explore and answer the following questions.

• Why does Chennai oscillate between a flood and drought-like situation every year? 

• How has water made living in Chennai an expensive affair?

• What went wrong in urban planning for us to lose all our natural flood mitigators? 

• Can Chennai be saved from sinking? 

• How can the Pallikaranai marshland be the city’s saving grace?