Chennai rain: School holiday declared in seven districts today

Yesterday, Chennai recorded 8.4 cm of rainfall, making it the highest downpour the southern city has witnessed in 30 years.

The incessant rainfall in the city has triggered the inundation of roads, severe waterlogging, and traffic snarls. As a result, the situation has disrupted the normal functioning of lives with people struggling to walk on roads in knee-dip water.

Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday chaired a virtual meeting of top officials on monsoon preparedness and instructed officials to work in cohesion and directed them to take swift action on complaints.

Until now two people have reportedly been killed in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu. A man was electrocuted in the city while a woman died after portions of a residential building collapsed in the city’s northern area of Pulianthope. A cow was also electrocuted in the suburbs.

 A weather bulletin said a cyclonic circulation lay over north Sri Lanka and its neighbourhood at lower levels and a “trough runs from this system to southeast Arabian sea.” Northeasterly winds continue to persist along and off North Tamil Nadu and adjoining coastal areas.

Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru said that 75% of storm water drain work has been completed in Chennai Corporation areas. Several areas that used to witness inundation in the past like the midtown GN Chetty Road have not seen waterlogging because of drain improvement work, Nehru said.

Greater Chennai Corporation authorities inspected several areas and said that there was no rainwater stagnation in localities like KK Nagar in view of preparatory measures and stormwater drain work. Flood monitoring cameras have been installed by authorities in localities vulnerable to flooding. In view of the ongoing stormwater drain improvement work and Chennai Metrorail phase-2 project, barricades have been put up in many stretches of roads.

According to the weather forecasting officials, most areas in Tamil Nadu Puducherry-Karaikal are expected to receive moderate rainfall for the next three days.

During the next 24 hours, some places in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengelpet, and other northern districts including Vellore could witness heavy to very heavy downpours.