Rains lash parts of Chennai and neighbouring areas; schools reopen after week-long holiday

Chennai: After a day’s respite, rains lashed parts of the city and its neighbourhood on Tuesday even as schools reopened after a week-long holiday. Sharp showers were reported in parts of the city such as Mylapore, Royapettah and Mandaiveli and Tambaram and Chengalpattu in neighbouring Kancheepuram district. [caption id=“attachment_4197155” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A satellite image of cloud formation over South India. Image courtesy: IMD[/caption] Rains also lashed parts of Tiruvallur district. The weather office has forecast more showers with heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in southern Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal in neighbouring Puducherry on Tuesday. Light to moderate rain was likely in the city and its neighbourhood, it said. Schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts which remained closed since 31 October in the wake of torrential rains reopened on Tuesday. Several parts of the state, especially coastal areas, have been receiving intermittent rains since the onset of the Northeast Monsoon on 27 October. Parts of the city and suburbs in low-lying areas have been hit by water-logging after couple of heavy spells last week. Several southern districts such as Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Cuddalore have also been experiencing heavy rains since last week. However, there was a lull in rain activity here in the past two days with brief spells in some areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his one-day visit to the city on Monday, has assured all help from the Centre to the state to meet the situation. The state government has sought Rs 1,500 crore central assistance for rain-relief efforts and permanent solution to the water-logging problem faced in the city suburbs.