Cyclone Ditwah aftermath | Chennai battered with heavy rains for third day straight

Chennai: For the third straight day, Chennai and its neighbouring districts were battered with heavy rains as the remnant of Cyclone Ditwah, now weakened into a well-marked low pressure, stalled unusually close to the Tamil Nadu coast for several hours.

With the weather system having moved inland, it continued to dump rains across Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chengalpattu on Wednesday, making life tough for motorists and office-goers. For the second consecutive day, schools and colleges in the four districts remained close.

While rains in Chennai were expected to subside by Thursday morning, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Ranipet, Villupuram, Cuddalore, and Cauvery Delta will experience heavy rainfall on Thursday, weather bloggers said.

Cyclone Ditwah, which wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka killing over 350 people, was predicted to leave a trail of destruction in Tamil Nadu as well on November 29 and 30. But the weather system began dumping huge rains across Chennai and three districts since December 1 with north Chennai bearing the maximum brunt.

Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) said the city recorded an average rainfall of 54.60 cm since the onset of the North-East Monsoon on October 17, 2025. The average rainfall between 5.30 am on Tuesday and 5.30 am on Wednesday is 6.17 cm, with Ennore in north Chennai registering 13.53 cm rainfall in 24 hours.

Intense spells of rainfall lashed across the city at regular intervals from Monday morning and continued till Wednesday evening. People living in low-lying areas were affected even as the administration said water drained out in several areas once the rains stopped.

The GCC said it distributed over 6 lakh food packets on Wednesday alone in the city to people affected by the rains even as hundreds of motor pumps have been deployed to drain rain water out.