Heavy rain lashes Chennai, neighbourhood areas; CM Stalin chairs review meeting

Tamil Nadu witnessed rainfall on Thursday while several parts of Chennai city and nearby areas were inundated leading to traffic slowdown and inconvenience to people in the city. M K Stalin chaired a meeting with officials to review the situation.

Chennai: Heavy rain lashed Chennai and its neighbouring area, leading to inundation in many parts on Thursday. Schools in the city were closed, even as morning officegoers found it difficult to wade through stagnant water in places such as Koyambedu and Mambalam in the capital city of Tamil Nadu. Disaster response teams were on standby even as more rain had been forecast.

Chief Minister M K Stalin chaired a meeting of top officials at the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to review the situation. Stalin spoke over the phone to people who contacted the Command and Control Centre of the GCC seeking redress and directed officials to immediately take suitable action.

On Wednesday night, Tamil Nadu Minister P.K. Sekar Babu, Greater Chennai Corporation Mayor R. Priya and Chennai Corporation Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan inspected the water-affected areas. The Minister said boats, life jackets and other rescue equipment are ready with 57 crews of the State Disaster Response Force. Several parts of Chennai recorded above 10 cm of rain including Avadi in Tiruvallur district recording the highest 19 cm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning. Zone 6 Kolathur, Zone 6 TVK Nagar and Ponneri recorded 15 cm of rainfall each.

The continuous rain also affected several trains such as Mumbai Central Express, Mangalore Central Mail, Alappuzha SF Express, Nilgiris SF Express, Palakkad SF Express and Kaveri Express. All these trains departed late due to waterlogged rail tracks from Ambattur to Avadi Railway stations.

Meanwhile, the water level of Chembarambakkam Lake has risen by 210 cubic meters with a capacity of 3,645 cubic feet due to heavy rain. The Puzhal lake reached its full capacity due to continuous rainfall in the area.