Cooum  river, Adayar river and Buckingham canal serve as the main rain water drain for Chennai. But they have been occupied by illegal encroachments.Drainage systems were not functioning. Creeks and culverts are blocked due to excessive dumping of garbage. Overall, Chennai deluge is Administrative failure.

It is reported today that the officials of a particular reservoir were asking for permission  to bring level down by a few feet by opening the gates to make way for increased water flow due to impending heavy predicted rains. The matter lay on Chief Secretary's level and he neither gave permission nor seems to have asked for permission from Amma or it was refused or not taken. The truth will never come out.  In Amma's rule only she decides either way. In Lok Sabha everytime an AIADMK member rises to give speech he first has to bring Amma's name somehow in the first 10 words!!! So let us  not dilute the  blame by blaming other minor reasons which are contributory and not the cause.

With all said and done, now it has become very clear that it's the failure of the officials of Corporation of Chennai.

So climate change and nature are not to be blamed.

The facts and figures are lying before you.You can judge on your own.

This is the problem which no scientists, no government can help is we who can control it

If all individuals pool in and do their bit I am sure we can set things right to some extent at least ! But having gotten used to live a comfort filled life surrounded by gadgets , will they want to give up now and go back to basics like the good old times ? I doubt it ..

Now, we have reached a point of no return according to Scientific studies. Famed Climatologist, James Hansen says that a newly discovered feedback loop in Antarctica has the capacity to raise the mean sea levels by 10 feet by 2065. It is 10 times more than the rates as predicted for sea level rise earlier.

 http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/things-you-can-do-today/