New Delhi, December 5 (RHC)-- Floods triggered by heavy rainfall continue to wreak havoc in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where nearly a million people have been displaced.

On Saturday, hundreds of extra soldiers and relief workers were deployed to the flooded city of Chennai after the heaviest rainfall in a century there. Homes, hospitals, roads, railway tracks and the city's airport were inundated by up to eight feet (2.5 meters) of water after torrential rains on December 1, leaving many residents trapped on rooftops or upper floors without power or communications.

Officials said the runway at Chennai airport was partly opened, aiding the relief effort in a disaster that has claimed 280 lives across the state. While the rains have ceased in the Tamil Nadu state capital, more than half of Chennai's 859 city areas remain under water, raising the threat of disease in the flat coastal city.

Heavy rainfall and flooding during India's rainy monsoon season claim many lives and cause property damage every year.