Chennai rains: Orange alert in Chennai; flash flood warning issued; CM Stalin urges people to stay indoors

India's manufacturing capital Chennai and its surrounding districts continued to receive heavy rains on Monday morning, disrupting vehicular movement in the state and bringing life to a standstill. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), showers are expected to continue for the next two days and there is a flash flood threat over some districts of Tamil Nadu in the next 6 hours.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin visited the rain-affected areas for the second day and helped with the relief measures. The Chennai civic body has distributed 3.36 lakh food packets on Monday for breakfast and lunch in the flood-affected regions. Schools and colleges in Chennai and 22 other districts have been shut today following intense rainfall and waterlogging.

IMD has issued an orange alert in 14 districts, including Cuddalore, Villupuram, Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai and Salem districts of Tamil Nadu. “In past 24hrs, Chennai recorded heavy to very heavy rain; expect the intensity to be slightly less today. Low-pressure area, to be formed on November 9 in SE Bay of Bengal, will form depression towards the NW and centralize at the north TN coast on 11th morning,” Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, DG IMD was quoted as saying by ANI.

Many footage showed cars submerged under water, uprooted trees and people being rescued on rubber boats in various parts of Chennai. Many streets are waterlogged, while the traffic was diverted from arterial roads to pump out water. Three subways — Vyasarpadi, Ganeshpuram and Madley Subway — have been shut due to waterlogging.