NEW DELHI: Shortly before the skies descended on Chennai, a 22-year-old MBA student from the city posted an uncannily prescient note on the Union government’s citizen engagement website MyGov.in.“The biggest problems in Chennai are the drainage system… (It) is so terrible that half an hour of rain is enough to flood the streets and underground subways,” Sai Prahlad wrote in the note titled ‘Smart City Chennai: My Dream City’.On Friday, Prahlad told ET through text messages that he was trapped for the past three days in his house in Madipakkam area. Electricity supply has been down since rains started earlier this week and no fresh milk or vegetables are available, he said.ET could not speak with Prahlad on his mobile phone because of the communication breakdown in Chennai, where at least 280 people have died and thousands are stranded following the severest rains to strike the city in more than a century. Basic supplies have become sparse and rescue efforts are hobbling.“The mini lakes broke out and boxed us in. So no one can get in or out — unless you want to swim with the snakes and dirt,” Prahlad said.“I am safe but since I am stuck, I have no idea how my relatives and friends are doing in the heart of the city,” Prahlad said.An economics graduate pursuing a masters in business administration (MBA) from Madras University, Prahlad said he did some research before writing on the MyGov website, which crowd-sources ideas for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Smart City scheme in 98 cities, including Chennai.“I even sent a post to the prime minister hoping someone would do something… it was raining heavily even on November 15 when I wrote those posts,” Prahlad said.In his note, he recommended using ‘topmix permeable’ concrete for streets and subways, saying it was capable of draining about 4,000 litres of water in 60 seconds. He also suggested building underground reservoirs to store excess water from rainstorms. “Using topmix permeable and building underground reservoirs will help us solve our drainage problem,” he wrote.A look at the discussion thread on the Chennai Smart City topic on My-Gov.in, which had at least 1,800 posts till November 15, shows several city residents seeking solutions for Chennai’s drainage system, indicating a wide sense of imminent danger.“A major problem still persisting during the rainy season is the rainwater being stagnated on our roads and on low-level areas,” D Jayakaanthan wrote on MyGov website in November. Akshay Vishwanathan wrote that Chennai’s drainage system was an “irritant” and there was a recurring problem every rainy season.Another Chennai resident, Ayyappan, suggested the need for a survey of Chennai’s drainage system by an experienced agency. Other suggestions revolved around fixing the polluted Cooum river, which has turned into an open sewage that drains into the Bay of Bengal.Prahlad suggested a clean-up on the lines of the project undertaken for the Mississippi river in the United States, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prahlad hopes Chennai’s miseries will end soon.“I do want the government to implement (my suggestions) or do something… So many people are suffering or have lost lives and it is really frustrating — the power cut, the mosquitos, the diseases. It’s really annoying,” Prahlad said through texts. “Once the power is restored, I want to send my suggestions to the Tamil Nadu chief minister too. I hope the government will take some action and soon.” On Friday evening, he sent another text: “It started raining again from late afternoon. Sigh.”Cassandra of Greek mythology had a reputation for making dire predictions. Trouble was, these were scarily accurate, making her a figure of opprobrium. It turns out amateur forecasters had sensed the kind of disaster that has poured down on Chennai and pointed out ways to tackle them, months ago. Such contingency plans must be made for every urban agglomeration, based on contour maps, storage potential of neighbourhood water bodies and rigorous, intelligent engineering. Accepting suggestions is easy. Acting on the sensible ones is difficult, but as necessary as paying heed to Cassandra.