New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Chengalpettu, with a warning of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the four districts, as heavy to very heavy rains lashed Chennai and the suburbs, inundating roads and subways on Thursday.
Starting from noon, most areas of the city and suburbs began to witness heavy rainfall and it was very heavy in several locations.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the highest rainfall of 17.65cm was recorded in MRC Nagar, followed by 14.65cm and 10cm in Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam respectively.
In other areas, including those falling under Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, the downpour ranged from 1cm to 10cm on Thursday.
According to IMD, isolated heavy to very rainfall is likely to continue over north coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining areas of south coastal Andhra Pradesh over the next three days.
"There will be increased rainfall activity over south-east peninsular India during next three days and decrease thereafter. There will be isolated heavy rainfall over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on Friday and Saturday and over south coastal Andhra Pradesh till January 1," the forecast added.
Meanwhile, weather enthusiasts made claims on social media vis-a-vis the intensity of showers beating previous records.
One such claim said that Thursday's rains in Chennai was the heaviest for a single day in December after 2015. However, IMD did not confirm such claims.
The officials said that a conclusion can be reached at only after looking into the actual rainfall for the 24-hour period.
A weather forecast issued by the IMD said, "Thunderstorm with moderate rain is likely to occur at a few places over coastal Tamil Nadu. Thunderstorm with moderate rain is likely to occur at many places over Villupuram, Cuddalore and Delta districts, Puducherry and Karaikal. Light rain is also likely to occur at isolated places over interior Tamil Nadu districts."