Heavy rains lashed Chennai and its suburbs on Tuesday, inundating houses in some low lying areas and affecting normal life, while authorities released surplus water from the city reservoirs, including Chembarambakkam. The incessant rains, which returned to the city after a break of several weeks, led to water logging in many roads and motorists and office-goers faced a tough time reaching their destinations.
Chennai and adjacent regions witnessed heavy to very heavy rainfall under the influence of easterly trough, a senior Regional Meteorological Centre official here said. The Met office said moderate rain was likely in several northern districts on Wednesday with Villupuram and Cuddalore expected to receive isolated heavy showers.
Water entered houses in a few low lying areas like suburban Chitlapakkam and civic officials were engaged in clearing flooded subways and key intersections. Amid the intense showers, vehicles moved at a snail’s pace while two-wheeler riders and drivers of auto-rickshaws and cars found it very difficult to negotiate roads which were covered by sheets of water in several areas.
Taramani in the city recorded the highest of 11.8 CM (very heavy) while Ennore Port the lowest of 3.7 CM. Other areas recorded various amounts of rainfall ranging between six plus CM to 10 CM, the Met department official said. Tambaram and Poonamalle, in neighbouring Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts respectively, recorded 9.5 CM and 7.4 CM rains while Nungambakkam (7.5 CM) and Meenambakkam (10 CM) were among the areas that witnessed intense showers that started early on Tuesday.
After almost non-stop battering for hours together in some places, the rains stopped in most parts of the city and suburban localities after 3 pm. The weather office earlier issued an alert for heavy rain (7 cm to 11 cm) at isolated places over Villupuram, Chengalpattu, Chennai, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Tiruvannamalai districts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Tuesday.
The sudden downpour prompted officials to release surplus water from reservoirs around the city. Initially, 500 cusecs of water was let out from Chembarambakkam dam and later stepped up to about 3,000 cusecs. Similarly, from Puzhal lake 1,500 cusecs, and 2,970 cusecs from Poondi were released, officials said.
These reservoirs are the key sources that help the metropolis’ meet its requirement of drinking water. Authorities advised people living close to the banks of Adyar River and other channels that carry the surplus water from the reservoirs to not get close to the river or other water bodies and stay at safe places.
The flood gates of sprawling Chembarambakkam reservoir were opened on November 25 for the first time in five years following heavy rains then, ahead of Nivar cyclone, brought in copious inflows under the influence of the North East Monsoon. Delayed opening of the reservoir in 2015 after very heavy rains was seen as a trigger for the devastating floods that hit the city then, though the government had rejected it.
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