Incessant rains lashed Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, throwing the normal lives of people out of gear, with roads being submerged in knee-deep water and traffic snarls across the city.
With the India Meteorological Department's red alert, schools and colleges at several places have also been ordered shut for Wednesday.
Train Ops Affected
The Southern Railways announced the complete cancellation of three trains for Wednesday, October 16, due to the water logging between Basin Bridge and Vyasarpadi Railway Stations amid heavy rains.
The cancelled trains are:
Train No. 12007 Dr MGR Chennai Central - Mysuru Shatabdi leaving Chennai Central at 6:00 am.
Train No. 16054 Tirupati - Dr MGR Chennai Central Express leaving Tirupati at 10:10 am.
Train No. 16053 Dr MGR Chennai Central - Tirupati Express leaving Chennai Central at 14:25 pm.
Other than this, several trains will also shortly terminate at places like Perambur, Avadi, Tiruvallur, and Arakkonam. Meanwhile, some trains have a change in their terminating stations and some in originating stations.
Schools, Colleges Shut
In the wake of the weather forecast, indicating heavy to extremely heavy rains in several Chennai districts, the Tamil Nadu government declared October 16 a holiday for schools, colleges, and government offices, barring essential services, covering districts including Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu.
The government has asked citizens to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel.
Weather Forecast
The IMD has forecast more rains in the next two days, saying that the well-marked low-pressure area intensified into a depression on Tuesday even and is expected to cross a coast near Chennai on October 17 morning.
A weather bulletin that on Wednesday, "heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy rain at one or two places is likely to occur over Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Chennai districts."
As per IMD, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely over north interior Tamil Nadu on October 17, Thursday.
"Light to moderate rainfall over most places with heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely over south Tamil Nadu during October 15 to 17," it added.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) meanwhile said that under the influence of the weather system widespread rainfall was recorded in Tamil Nadu during the past 24 hours.
The RMC said that isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal during the next three days with extremely heavy rain at one or two places during the next two days -- October 16 and 17.
Squally weather with 40 to 50 kmph wind speed, gusting to 60 kmph, is likely in north coastal Tamil Nadu on October 16 and fishermen have been advised to not venture into the sea, it added.
The RMC also said that the Southwest monsoon has withdrawn and Northeast monsoon rainfall activity has begun in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh. According to the regional weather office's bulletin, Kudumiyanmalai in Pudukottai district received 13 cm of rainfall. Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district and Ennore in Chennai received 10 cm of rainfall each. A vast majority of areas of the state have been covered by monsoon rains, which ranged between 1 to 9 cm.
CM Stalin Conducts Inspections, Govt At Work
The DMK-led government has said that State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams and central teams of the force are on standby in 26 locations in Chennai and nearby districts. Additionally, 219 boats are ready for use for rain-related tasks in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu.
In Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram, as many as 931 relief centres are ready and top IAS officials are monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, works to clear the waterlogging in over 300 places in the city are underway, with no untoward incident being reported so far, barring a wall collapse incident which caused injuries to a person.
Chief Minister MK Stalin, along with other ministers, inspected the work to drain rain water from flood-prone localities and took civic workers for tea. He hailed the services of sanitary/civic workers and officials notwithstanding heavy rains, adding that he will stand shoulder to shoulder with frontline workers.
The Chief Minister also visited the state emergency control centre in Chennai.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin also inspected several localities, including the Narayanapuram lake near Velachery. He also reviewed the integrated command and control centre of Chennai Corporation, functioning from its headquarters, the Ripon Building, to take stock of the ongoing work to handle the situation amid incessant downpours.
Tamil Nadu DGP Shankar Jiwal visited the State Police Flood Control Room at the operations headquarters, spoke with six teams of SDRF and reviewed disaster-related equipment.
Civic officials said trees that fell during the rains were removed then and there and water logging was being cleared by pumping out water into stormwater drains. Heavy-duty motors on tractors have been deployed to clear waterlogging across the city. Boats have also been stationed at vulnerable places.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) announced a helpline number -- 1913 for the public. The state government has also asked the public to check for weather updates on the TN Alert App.
