"Climate change is real": Ravichandran Ashwin wades into Chennai's flooding woes

Dec 07, 2023

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], December 8 : Indian spinning ace Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday waded into the ongoing flood situation in his native Chennai and also shared a video clip carrying a message on climate change on his social media handle.
Taking to his official handle on X, Ashwin shared a clip where a man is heard voicing concerns over the rampant littering of Chennai's beaches with plastic.
"Every second day you get to hear that the plastic in the ocean is killing so many dolphins, so many turtles... Do those, who throw plastic on the beach, want to kill those creatures? No. They do it because they can do it. That's it. And what environmental buffer zone are you talking about?" the man in the video is heard saying.
The star India tweaker tagged the video on his X handle with a message that said "climate change is real". He also urged people to wake up before it is too late.
"I rest my case! We need to value lives and also put a value on our lives. If we don't expect a certain standard for ourselves, no one else is going to knock on our door and give it to us. & finally! Climate change is real and make no mistake, all of us that think this is someone else's problem have to wake up because it's coming for us and we better be prepared," Ashwin posted on X.
Meanwhile, several areas of Chennai continued to reel under severe waterlogging conditions on Thursday amid heavy rainfall in the region in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Michaung, which made landfall two days ago.
Various parts of the city, including a petrol pump in the Pallikaranai area, Jerusalem College of Engineering remained inundated after heavy rainfall. The waterfalls at the Kodaikanal Hills in Dindigul district also swelled and overflowed due to heavy rainfall in the region.
The Tamil Nadu government announced a holiday for all schools and colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, and Chengalpattu on Thursday due to severe flooding in several parts of these districts in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Schools and colleges in six taluks -- Pallavaram, Tambaram, Vandalur, Thiruporur, Chengalpattu, and Thirukazhukundram -- remained closed on Thursday. During their operations, IAF dropped a total of 2,300 kg of relief material in the flood-affected areas in Chennai.
The IAF was working in liaison with the Tamil Nadu government while the relief materials were being provided by various agencies in the state.