After a short gap, heavy rains lash Tamil Nadu again

Weather department predicts rains may continue for next few days with formation of more low pressure areas

After a short gap, heavy rains returned to Tamil Nadu affecting particularly Chennai, Cuddalore, Tirvauvallur and Kanchipuram districts. The rains have wreaked havoc and brought life to a standsill in these regions.

Water reservoirs were over-flowing and many areas were flooded. Warnings have been issued and people are being evacuated. Weather department has issued a forecast predicting many parts of these districts will see rains in next few days.

BBC Weather report says upto 500 mm of rain will bring flooding back to parts of the state and may impact industrial hub of Chennai in the next few days.

After a break of three to four days, rains restarted during the weekend and was strengthening in Chennai since Monday night. The city ended up with 1049.3 mm of rainfall on Monday due to a decrease in rainfall during the weekend.

Reports stated low pressure over Bay of Bengal near South Andaman Sea and Sri Lanka Coast has moved and lays over southwest Bay of Bengal as one intense weather system.

This is expected to bring in very heavy rainfall up to 125 mm in parts of coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and some areas of south Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Several areas in Chennai have been waterlogged due to the showers affecting vehicular traffic, train movement and around ten flights delayed. Suburban train services have been affected due to waterlogging on the tracks at several places.

While schools and colleges remained closed on Tuesday also, most offices, including IT companies, automobile majors and others asked their employees to go home after most of the water lakes and dams started over flowing. In may parts flood warnings were issued.

TCS asked all its employees across 13 offices in and around the city to go home after 1 pm. Some of the major factories also declared holiday.

Cognizant spokesperson said, "As a result of heavy rains and flooding in some parts of Chennai, we have decided to close our facilities in the city at 3:00 pm today and are providing all possible transportation support to ensure safe return of employees. For employees who have chosen to stay back at our facilities to provide uninterrupted 24x7 support to critical client projects, we have made the necessary accommodation and food arrangements. We have implemented our business continuity plan and are closely monitoring the situation. Some of our employees have traveled to Cognizant centers in other cities to provide support to our clients."

The development comes after Chennai received 73 mm in three hours in the morning.

Water bodies in various parts of the city and outskirts including Madurantakam, Perumbakkam, Porur are already running full to capacity and some of them have started spilling water to neighbouring areas.

This is expected to create water logging in the neighbouring areas already been affected by heavy rains. The water breached onto the land in Mudichur, Perungalathur and other places, which are key routes connecting Chennai to major suburban locations and major southern districts.

Chennai Collector has asked to evacuate people who are staying close to the water bodies and also people who are living close to the Adyar river banks as excess water will flow through this canal towards the sea. Lakhs of people in these areas were evacuated to safer locations.

Several flights were delayed at the Chennai Airport and the trains were running late. Suburban trains were also running late, while the city witnessing heavy traffic blocks in several places.

According to Skymetweather, an online weather portal, another cyclonic circulation closely following, which is likely to merge with this one. Accordingly, a low pressure area could develop over the region after 24 to 48 hours. In fact, Northeast Monsoon will bring some rainfall in most parts of Peninsular India during next few days, it said.

It was predicted that next four days around 25 cm of rain is expected to report. The state, especially the coastal districts are expected to get rain for the next eight days. Reports have said around 184 people were killed in rain related incidents across the state. The rain started on November 6.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has asked the Centre for a Rs 8,500 crore package from the national disaster relief fund for relief and restoration. Although she asked for an immediate Rs 2,000 crore relief, the Centre has released just Rs 940 crore. A central team has assessed damage in the state. The team is expected to submit its report this week or early next week.