Chennai rains: Roads inundated, homes flooded, life thrown out of gear; heaviest rain since 2015
With several low-lying areas of Tamil Nadu's capital inundated, Chief Minister MK Stalin visited rain-affected areas in Chennai, and has asked MLAs to visit their constituencies to oversee the situation as well.
FollowA red alert has been issued for Chennai and its suburbs after thunderstorms and heavy overnight rains caused flooding and inundation in many parts of the city as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted more rains in the coming days. The weather department also has predicted heavy rainfall in Chennai and its neighbourhood for the next three hours.
Several city neighbourhoods including T Nagar, Vyasarpadi, Adyar, Velachery, Royapettah and Mylapore. Jawaharlal Nehru Nagar, Madhavram, Tondiarpet High Road, Northern Trunk Road, Royapuram, Teynampet, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, interior areas of Velachery, several stretches of Sholinganallur in the city suburb were flooded following rains on Saturday night and early morning on Sunday.
The Tamil Nadu capital recorded 21 centimetres of rain till 8.30 am this morning. With all the lakes around Chennai swelling, waters were released from the Chembarambakkam lake -- an 85.4 feet-high lake, where the water level has already reached 82.35 feet. Officials have issued a flood alert in the Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu districts, particularly on the banks of River Adyar.
Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John said that the city recorded its heaviest rainfall today since December 2015.
“Official readings are out, 226 mm in Mylapore, 205 mm in Ambattur, Sivappu Sambahavam in Chennai. Meanwhile it is also the highest 24 rainfall in Nungambakkam since 2015 and it also crossed 200 mm now at 207 mm,” Pradeep John tweeted.
Many parts of the city suffered waterlogging as heavy showers brought life to a standstill. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin visited rain-affected areas in the city and has asked MLAs to visit their constituencies to oversee the situation as well.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have also been deployed in three Tamil Nadu districts — Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Madurai — after heavy rainfall warnings from IMD. More rains have been predicted for Chennai through the day on Sunday till Monday morning.
