Southern Tamil Nadu pounded by heavy rains; state registers 32% excess rainfall this monsoon

Chennai: Normal life in several districts, especially in Southern Tamil Nadu, was thrown out of gear on Friday due to extremely heavy rainfall with a village in Tirunelveli alone recording about 50 cm rains in 24 hours, leading to the death of at least four persons due to wall collapse and electrocution.

As many as 49 localities in Tirunelveli, Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur, Chengalpattu, and Perambalur recorded extremely heavy rainfall between 20 cm to 50 cm in a span of 24 hours, while 139 localities received rainfall between 10 to 20 cm during the same period. Around 217 places received rainfall of 6.5 cm to 10 cm.

With the heavy rainfall filling several water bodies, excess water from Poondi, Pichatur, and Sathanur dams have been opened with due warning to people living on the banks. Water from Chembarambakkam and Puzhal, sources of drinking water for Chennai, were also released on Friday due to steady inflow.

People living in many localities in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi were confined to their homes for the whole of Friday due to non-stop rains. The district administrations moved people living on the banks of River Thamirabarani in Tirunelveli districts to safety after it began to receive about 50,000 cusecs of water per second.

The government said four people lost their lives due to wall collapse in Ariyalur and Ramanathapuram and due to electrocution in Sivaganga and Ranipet. Several parts of the state continue to experience heavy to extreme rains for the past few days, just a week after Cyclone Fengal left a trail of destruction across several districts.

The IMD said the state has received 32 per cent above the average rainfall between October 1 and December 13 from the North-east Monsoon (NEM), as predicted by weather bloggers that this season will lead to surplus rains.

“The total rainfall recorded between October 1 and December 13 is 54 cm, which is 14 cm higher than the normal average of 40 cm. With this, the excess rainfall is about 32 per cent,” S Balachandran, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, said.

He said the rainfall average was extremely high in five districts, high in 22 districts, and normal in 13 districts.