Chennai rains: Schools, colleges remain closed as heavy downpour pounds city; flooding to persist, says IMD

Chennai: Rains continued to lash this metropolis and neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur besides other regions of Tamil Nadu, even as the IMD department forecast more rainfall due to a low pressure area persisting in the Bay of Bengal. [caption id=“attachment_4185615” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] 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. Schools and colleges, closed since 31 October, were shut today as well and several university exams were postponed. The state-level National Talent Search Exam scheduled for Saturday was deferred to 18 November. Civic authorities, including corporation officials, district collectors (Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur) coordinated relief work. 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. Netizens posted updates about traffic diversions and inundated areas on social media and volunteers distributed food packets and water in affected areas of Nanmangalam and Pallikaranai. Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on Friday 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. Meanwhile, a IMD 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 kilometer above mean sea level continued to persist. With the northeast monsoon active in the state and neighbouring Puducherry, Chennai city (Nungambakkam) recorded 65.8 millimeter of rainfall while suburban Meenambakkam registered 62 millimeter rains in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday. The coastal district of Nagapattinam in the Cauvery delta zone recorded two centimeters rain and Karaikal in Puducherry one cm rain from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Friday. Comprehensive updates on rainfall for other regions till this morning are awaited. The department said rain or thundershowers were likely to occur at many places over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and at a few places over interior Tamil Nadu. Heavy rain at isolated places was very likely over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, it said. A release from the railways said showers caused track “circuit based signalling to fail” due to water logging in Chennai Division, “affecting punctuality” between Kodambakkam- St Thomas Mount stations in the southern sector from 9 pm yesterday and it was restored at 9.50 pm. This was also the case at the northern Tondiarpet and Korukkupet route at 9.35 pm and services were restored at 5.45 am on Saturday, the release said. “Wherever automatic signalling got affected, trains got slightly delayed since they had to be dealt with manual signals instead of automatic signals,” it said. There were also some power tripping issues in railway routes, including the northern suburban Chennai Beach-Central- Tiruvallur. Power was immediately restored by extending supply from adjacent sub stations within a few minutes, they said.