Chennai: The Indian Meteorological Centre (IMD) predicted light to moderate rainfall coupled with thunderstorms at isolated places over 18 districts including Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu (KTC), Cuddalore, Tirunelveli, and Puducherry for the next three hours. Till Tuesday, four persons died due to rain-related incidents in Chennai, Theni, and Madurai districts, as mentioned in a PTI report.
The IMD has predicted mild showers on Tuesday as the state is embracing to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall due to the formation of a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. The low-pressure is likely to intensify and get marked into a depression on Wednesday. Hence. heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted in parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, on November 10-11.
According to a bulletin issued by IMD at 7 am on Tuesday, IMD said, “Thunderstorms light to moderate rain likely at one or two places over Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Sivanganga, Ramanathapuram, Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar districts of Tamil Nadu for next three hours.”
The IMD also predicted isolated rainfall in Puducherry and Karaikal for the next three hours.
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Tamil Nadu started to witness heavy rainfall from Saturday night and the rains are continuing in many parts of several districts. The worst affected of all districts is Chennai where several homes have been inundated, trees uprooted, and flooding reported in residential areas and arterial roads.
The IMD has issued an orange alert to many districts on Tuesday. The Chennai Corporation has deployed 23,000 personnel to clear water-logging and inundation of subways.
However, Nungambakkam has already reached the annual normal rainfall amount of the year. The Meenambakkam is nearing the complete annual normal rainfall of 138 cm with the current rainfall amount of 132 cm.
With many regions nearing annual normal rainfall, water bodies in Chennai and neighboring districts are brimming with water, and some are already in spate. The water overflowing from Kovilpadagai tank and Hastinapuram lake has flooded the nearby areas in Kanchipuram district. The government has increased water outflow from Chembrambakkam to 2000 cusecs and the outflow is likely to increase further as extreme rainfall is forecasted for the next few days.
The officials have issued a flood alert to people residing in villages downstream of the lake.