Chennai: Rains lashed Tamil Nadu on Wednesday and it continued through the night with intermittent heavy downpours across the state Thursday, as the North East Monsoon intensified.
Southern districts recorded heavy showers on Thursday, prompting most of them to declare a rain holiday for schools.
Following the heavy downpour and inundation, the District Administration of several districts including Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts in the south, declared a holiday for schools today. The administration in four taluks in the Nilgiris district, Tiruppur, and Coimbatore districts, in the west too declared a rain holiday.
The Chennai-based weather office has forecast isolated heavy rainfall over the state.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), in its weather bulletin, said "Under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over the Southeast and adjoining East central Arabian Sea, a low pressure area was formed over East central Arabian Sea at 5.30 pm on November 8, and it is likely to move nearly westwards and become less marked over the same region during the next 24 hours."
Kotagiri in Nilgiris district topped the tally with 228 mm rainfall.
The continuous rains resulted in landslides being reported at about five places on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway line. This led to the cancellation of the mountain train service. Landslides were reported at Kotagiri area, affecting the road traffic. The administration along with police resorted to a traffic diversion and the stranded vehicles were given passage through Coonoor to reach Mettupalayam, near Coimbatore.
The RMC bulletin said moderate thunderstorms occurred over Tenkasi, Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvallur districts.
The Northeast Monsoon has turned active throughout the state. Chennai and surrounding areas were among the areas that received a good amount of rainfall on Wednesday.
