New Delhi: As rains continued to inundate several parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry, schools and colleges will remain closed in affected areas on Monday.
A holiday has been announced in schools and colleges in Chennai and 10 other Tamil Nadu districts for Monday, news agency ANI reported.
“All schools and colleges in Puthuvai and Karaikal regions will be closed on 29 and 30 November as incessant rains hit normal life,” Puducherry Education Minister A Namassivayam informed in a statement.
As rains lashed many areas in Tamil Nadu, several roads and subways were flooded causing inconvenience to people and affecting their routine.
Chief Minister MK Stalin inspected several flooded suburban areas like Tiruverkadu in Tiruvallur District and monitored work to bail out floodwater, news agency PTI reported.
He also interacted with the local people and listened to their grievances.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister gave away flood relief aid, including essential commodities and blankets, to over 300 people housed in a suburban school and reviewed the flood situation with officials.
According to the Regional Meteorological Centre, northern regions, including Chennai, Cuddalore and neighbouring Puducherry on Sunday witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall. It was scattered, light to moderate in other areas of the state.
Till 7.30 PM, the Cuddalore-Puducherry belt recorded 7 CM rainfall. Chennai recorded 6 CM (Meenambakkam) and 1 CM (Nungambakkam) respectively, the RMC stated.
Amid the monsoon showers, most reservoirs in the state have received copious inflows and surplus water is being let out in many regions. People in low lying areas are being evacuated and housed in shelters.
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As per the state government, 15,016 people have been housed in 188 camps in Tiruvallur, Chengelpet, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Ranipettai, Tiruchirappali, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, and Vellore districts.
“In the past 24 hours, two people (one each in Cuddalore and Tuticorin) districts died in rain related incidents,” the government informed in a statement.
Meanwhile, nearly one lakh packets of food were distributed to over 1,000 people housed in relief centres.
Several areas in and around the coastal town of Cuddalore witnessed water-logging. In Chennai and its suburbs, most roads were waterlogged and several subways were closed for traffic as surplus water continued to be released from reservoirs.
Traffic diversions were enforced at many places and barricades were put up to caution road users. The state-run local bus services were disrupted but suburban railway services were unhindered.
Authorities deployed heavy-duty motor pumps to drain stagnant water.
Reservoirs, including Poondi and Chembarambakkam that cater to the drinking water needs of Chennai, released over 10,500 cusecs of surplus water in view of continuous showers in catchment areas, authorities said as reported by PTI.
The release of surplus from Poondi dam in Tiruvallur district was stepped up (from an initial 4,253 cusecs to about 8,000 cusecs) in a phased manner upto about 12,000 cusecs by evening.
Meanwhile, an IMD bulletin informed that a low pressure area is likely to form over South Andaman sea around November 30, 2021. It is likely to become more marked and move westnorthwestwards during subsequent 48 hours.
The bulletin pointed to scattered to broken, low and medium clouds with embedded intense to very intense convection over west central and south Bay of Bengal and south Andaman sea.
The North-East monsoon season (October to December) is Tamil Nadu’s main rainy season.
From October 1 till November 27, the state received about 60.33 cm rainfall, as opposed to the usual 34.57 cm for the period — an excess of 75 per cent.
(With Agency Inputs)