Heavy rains lash parts of TN, Puducherry:Normal life hit

Heavy rains today lashed parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and neighbouring Puducherry, disrupting flight movement and leaving several areas inundated.

The picture looks no better for tomorrow with the weather office forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall for Tamil Nadu, especially over the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.

It also forecast heavy rains for Puducherry.

"The trough of low pressure now lies over Southwest Bay adjoining Sri Lanka off Tamil Nadu," officials at the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) told PTI.

Under its influence, widespread rains are expected across the state on Wednesday, with the possibility of "scattered heavy to isolated very heavy rainfall over coastal districts," they said.

The weather office forecast "isolated extremely heavy rainfall" for Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur which have been already been facing the brunt of the northeast monsoon since last month.

A holiday has been declared today for educational institutions in these districts, which have been experiencing heavy downpour, officials said.

In Chennai, office-goers found it tough to make it to their workplaces on time with the incessant rains resulting in water-logging in several areas. Many of them opted to travel by state government buses, suburban train services and Metro Rail.

Most roads were left in a damaged state, with motorists finding it hard to negotiate potholes.

At Adyar, a part of the road near the Madhya Kailash intersection had caved in yesterday, prompting authorities to redirect traffic on the busy stretch.

Flight operations also took a hit due to the inclement weather. Airport officials said one flight, which left Colombo this morning, returned.

Puducherry, which was pounded by rains since last night recorded 15.2 cm rain in the last 24 hours ending 0830 today, disrupting normal life. A holiday was declared today for educational institutions. 

Meanwhile, Chennai Collector E Sundaravalli said there was a possibility of increasing discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam lake, a key reservoir which addresses city's drinking water requirement, into Adyar river.

With the discharge likely to go up to 7200 cusecs from the present 5000 cusecs, she asked residents living along the banks of Adyar river to move to safer areas.

The water level in the lake was 83.48 ft as against the full level of 85.50 ft.

The combined storage capacity of the four reservoirs addressing Chennai's water needs stood at 9271 mcft as against the full capacity of 11057 mcft. The storage on December 1 last year was 2859 mc ft, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board said.

Parangipettai (Cuddalore) and Marakkanam (Villupuram) received 16 and 15 cm rainfall in the 24 hours ending 0830 hrs today.

Normal life was thrown out of gear in Puducherry which was pounded by rains last night, officials said.

This is the first time that heavy rains battered the Union Territory after around a decade.