Now, rain hits southern districts of TN, submerges crop

Even as Chennai gradually returned to normal life with draining flood water and drying roads, rain fury did not quite leave Tamil Nadu but only shifted base to the southern districts.

The downpour over delta districts of Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Tanjavur proved damaging for acres of sprouting Samba crops that were submerged in the 24-hour deluge.

"The trough of low pressure at mean sea level from Sri Lanka to southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu coast now runs from Comorin area to southwest Bay of Bengal,” a senior official at Chennai’s Regional Meteorological Centre told Deccan Herald on Wednesday evening.

“Under its influence, isolated heavy rain would occur over south coastal Tamil Nadu and Delta districts in the next 48 hours", he further said, adding  strong winds occasionally reaching speeds of up to 45-55 KMPH is likely to blow on and off Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts.

Chennai not spared

The rains did not entirely spare Chennai, as the state capital and its neighbouring districts received sporadic rains since Wednesday morning with few spells of heavy showers in certain areas.

As Chennai gets only isolated showers, office-goers had no problems commuting on local busses and trains which have been plying without a break for the third straight day.
Residents also breathed easy with resumption of call taxi and autorickshaw services after a gap of two weeks. Domestic and international flights also operated normally from Chennai airport. “More than 80 per cent of flight services have resumed,” Chennai airport director Deepak Shastri said.

After the rescue and relief operations, Tamil Nadu government has launched a massive cleaning programme, deploying thousands of civic workers to clear away mounting garbage in all the flood-hit areas.

“We have to clear away more than 1000 tonnes of garbage,” a senior municipal corporation official said.

Though defence personnel from the army, navy and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) nearly completed their mission, they are kept stationed in Chennai and its suburbs to address emergencies.

With reports of 29 more deaths coming from the rain-hit northern districts from December 1, the number of victims to the rains and floods has touched 400.