Chennai sees highest rainfall of 8.4cm in a day in 30 years

The highest rainfall Chennai has seen in 30 years was 8.4 cm on Tuesday. Tuesday’s rainfall in Tamil Nadu’s capital city and its neighbouring districts is continuing despite the overnight storms that inundated the area, caused significant water-logging, and caused traffic jams.

With people in Chennai trying to walk on roadways in knee-deep water, the crisis has disrupted daily life.

Additionally, schools have been closed in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengelpet, as well as six other districts.

Authorities from the Greater Chennai Corporation conducted inspections in a number of areas, including subways like Ganesapuram, as part of preparation and maintenance on storm water drains. In neighbourhoods that are prone to floods, flood monitoring cameras have also been deployed. Due to the current Chennai Metrorail phase-2 works, barricades have been installed along numerous roads.

Today at the state secretariat, a high-level meeting to assess the readiness for the monsoon is set to be presided over by the chief minister, MK Stalin.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier issued a rain alert in Tamil Nadu till November 5, with a “yellow” alert being in place till November 4. Some districts such as Tiruppattur and Vellore are on “orange” alert today.

However, the meteorological department has predicted that the state, particularly Chennai, would experience heavy rain during the rest of the day. On Tuesday, a minimum temperature of 23 degrees Celsius in the nation’s capital.

Met officials said that the upper air circulation system is weak, however, and not expected to become stronger. This circulation lying in the Southeast Bay of Bengal and off the northeast of Sri Lanka is causing rainfall in Tamil Nadu and even in some of its neighbouring states and UTs of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, among others.