12 dead, thousands displaced in Tamil Nadu rains, Chennai braces for more showers

Thousands of people took refuge in relief camps as torrential monsoon rains flooded parts of Tamil Nadu, killing at least 12 people this week, the government said Saturday.

The weather department has predicted rain or thundershowers over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry till Monday. Districts like Villupuram, Tiruvallur and Tiruvarur continued to be lashed by rains.

Friday had brought a little respite and the sun, but heavy showers had continued through the evening.

Commuters had a harrowing time due to delayed services of buses and trains and severe traffic snarls. Mild rainfall was recorded in some areas in the state, moderate in others and heavy in some pockets.

In the state capital Chennai, schools and colleges, closed since October 31, were shut today as well and several university exams were postponed. Power supply was suspended in inundated areas such as parts of MKB Nagar in North Chennai, pockets of Madipakkam in South Chennai and Karapakkam off Porur in Western Chennai to ensure safety.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on Thursday visited many waterlogged parts of the city and its suburbs, insisting that his government was working on a “war-footing”. He was accompanied by his deputy O Panneerslevam and senior officials.

Although most of the water-logging has been cleared in Chennai, low-lying areas and the suburbs of the capital continue to be water-logged.

More than 10,000 people have taken shelter in over 105 relief camps in Chennai and other parts of coastal Tamil Nadu, a government release said.

By 8.30 am on Friday, Chennai had already recorded 554.2mm of rainfall this year, or 74% of the long-term average of 750mm it receives annually in the rainy season, that is calculated from October 1 and December 15

Between Thursday evening and Friday morning, parts of Chennai received as much as 140 mm of rain. Thursday’s rain was Chennai’s third-highest in history in a single day for November, behind only 452.2mm in 1976 and 246.15mm in 2015.

Meanwhile, a Met bulletin said the low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal, adjoining Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu coast and the associated cyclonic circulation extending upto 3.1 km above mean sea level continued to persist.

The Marina Beach area recorded a whopping 30 cm of precipitation.Parts of the beach were submerged under water, as people tried to make their way around.

The heavy deluge has brought back memories of the deadly December 2015 deluge in Chennai, where 500 people died. The city had ground to a halt because of the floods then, and the subsequent clean up took months.

The torrential rainfall in 2015 was the result of the El Nino effect, but Chennai’s unchecked urban development, loss of wetland and poor drainage exacerbated the situation.