Chennai: Floods in Chennai have prevented the publication of a 137-year-old newspaper associated with the south Indian city for the first time in its history.
The Hindu, published daily since 1878, did not come out on Wednesday as workers could not access the press in the capital city of Tamil Nadu state.
Chennai has been battered with the worst flood situation in more than a century.
The Hindu is one of India’s oldest newspapers.
The paper’s publisher N Murali told BBC Hindi’s Imran Qureshi that it was the first time this had happened.
The rains have suspended flights and trains and hundreds of people are without power.
Murali told the international news agency that their Maraimalainagar township was not accessible for the people who run the plant. “So, none of our staff could reach the plant. It is located about 30 km from the city in Maraimalainagar,” he added.
“The printing press plant is large so we put it up outside the city. Even if we had printed the paper, I doubt if it could have been distributed in the city,” he added.
BBC said other newspapers such as the Times of India, the Deccan Chronicle and the New Indian Express were printed, but it was unclear it they had reached readers in the city.
Meanwhile the army has been deployed to rescue thousands of stranded people after two days of heavy rains.
Flights from the city’s airport have been indefinitely suspended after flood waters entered the runway and tarmac areas on Tuesday evening.
Most of the main streets are waterlogged and schools have been shut for the 17th day since November.
At least 188 people have been killed in rain-related incidents, reports say.