Chennai rains: 3 die of electrocution; red alert sounded as showers to continue till Jan 3

At least three persons died of electrocution after heavy rains pounded Chennai on Thursday afternoon, while a red alert was issued to the city and three adjoining districts of Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, and Chinglepet. Wet weather is expected to persist at least until January 3.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu):At least three persons died of electrocution after heavy rains pounded Chennai on Thursday afternoon, while a red alert was issued to the city and three adjoining districts of Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, and Chinglepet.

Wet weather is expected to persist at least until January 3. “The interaction of easterly winds at lower levels and westerly winds at upper level has brought rain to the city. The rains in the city will continue till January 3," said S Balachandran, Deputy Director-General, IMD.

Of the three deaths, two died in northern suburbs of the city and a 13-year old boy lost his life in Mylapore.

The deceased have been identified as Tamilarasi, (70), of Otteri, Meena, (45), a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh, resident of Puliyanthope and Lakshmanan, (13).

Multiple locations in the city received more than 20 cm rainfall in an intensive spell that lasted for about 5 hours, and private weather bloggers claimed that the rainfall level may surpass the December 2015 deluge.

Almost all the arterial roads were inundated and vehicular traffic was moving at a snail's pace.

Taxi fares of cab-aggregators went through the roof as most of the drivers were not willing to drive through the inundated roads.

As state-run intra-city buses were cut short to the city limits, passengers complained that the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) had reduced its operating fleet strength.

The cascading effect was witnessed in the Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) trains which ran packed ever since the rains began. CMRL, which played good Samaritan, announced that it would operate its train until 12 am as against its 11 pm the last service and urged the passengers to plan their journey accordingly.

"Due to severe rainfall and to enable passengers to reach their homes safely, CMRL has decided to extend its Metro Train Services by 1 hour from 11:00 pm to 12:00 am today (30-12-2021). The last Metro Train will leave all terminals at 12:00 am," the CMRL's official handle wrote on Twitter.

Three major subways - Gengu Reddy subway, Duraiswamy subway, and RBI subway were closed due to waterlogging.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, N. Puviyarasan, director of the meteorological department said that "this is an unexpected event. Web stated that Chennai will not receive such heavy rainfall. However, there is a strong and sudden Easterly trough that made rains lash the city."

Asked about the possibility of rain on Friday, the weather expert noted that if the Easterly trough continues, chances remain high for possible rains tomorrow (Dec 31).

As far as rainfall is concerned, City's MRC Nagar experienced 214.5 mm of rain while Nungambakkam received 192.5 mm of rainfall. Similarly, YMCA Nandhanam and Anna University registered 181.5 and 150 mm respectively.

Inflow due to the heavy rains in the catchment areas of two reservoirs - Redhills Reservoir and Poondi Reservoir - had increased to 3000 cusecs per second and the outflow is maintained at 1000 and 1500 cusecs, respectively.

Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran was at the State Control Room of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), taking stock of the rain damage and the mitigation process.

Late Thursday, Chief Minister M.K Stalin conducted a review meeting with Greater Chennai Corporation officials and took stock of the situation. He also inspected the control room in the GCC office.

"Even after weather prediction, rains pound. Many areas in the city remain inundated and traffic has come to a grinding halt," he tweeted.

"After returning from Trichy, I visited the rain-related control room in the GCC office and issued guidelines to the officials. Soon, rain water-related issues will be sorted out," he said in another tweet