Chennai rains: Fresh evening showers a day after monster downpour test residents on Friday

CHENNAI: Friday was pleasant and sunny, which helped expedite reli­e­f wo­rk, but the skies opened up yet again late in the evening, wi­th 55 mm rain recorded ar­o­und 10 pm at Nungambakkam here, on the fifth consecutive day of rains.

READ HIGHLIGHTS HERE | DAY 5: Several areas waterlogged after evening rains

“Within three days, Chennai r­eceived a whopping 36 cm ra­in. Steps have been taken to cle­­ar the stagnating water immediately,” Chief Mi­n­ister Edappadi K Pal­­a­n­i­s­w­a­m­i said after visiting a few places in the city.

Media reports say that at least twelve people have died in rain-related incidents in the state since October 27, when the northeast monsoon set in. A farmer was electrocuted in Thiruvarur in southern Tamil Nadu on Friday. 

The Met office on Friday predicted that rain would continue for at least the next two days. School holiday has been exte­n­d­ed by one more day.

Although most of the water-logging has been cleared in Chennai, low-lying areas and the suburbs of the capital continue to be water-logged.

READ HERE | How will Chennai face extreme rainfall with lowest number of automatic rain gauges in South India?

Hours after Chennai received its heaviest rainfall for Novemb­e­r in 41 years on Thursday ni­g­ht, the city was up on its feet be­­ca­use of overnight mitigati­on by an army of Corporation o­ffi­cials. The government pu­­l­l­e­d out all stops with the CM leading from the front and ministers joining the task force.

The showers have been attributed to a low pressure area that lies over Southwest Bay of Bengal off Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu coast and extends up to 3.1km above the mean sea le­vel. Thursday night’s rain was so intense that in the 24 hours that ended at Friday 8.30 am, DGP office weather station opposite Marina beach recorded as much as 300 mm rainfall. S Balachandran, Director, Area Cycl­o­ne Warning Centre, said Th­u­r­sday’s evening record rainfall was a special event and people blaming IMD for not forecasting it was ‘unfair’.

A few trains were delayed due to waterlogging on the tracks between Guindy and Tambaram. A contingent of 1,133 employees of Greater Chennai Corpor­a­tion worked overnight to clear the stagnant water in 338 places. They used high-capacity motors in many areas to clear them with the assistance of local volunteers. READ HERE | Failure of signalling system cripples Chennai's suburban rail operations.

Going by the intensity of Friday night’s rain, Corporation officials have their task cut out.

Massive water-logging in parts of #TamilNadu followed by heavy rainfall: Visuals from #Chennai's Korattur area pic.twitter.com/r8lZ3Y5zAl

— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2017

Chennaites map floods in social media

Chennaiites have taken to social media to map flooding in the city by crowd-sourcing info and help people and the government agencies. The citizen-driven initiatives help map badly affected areas with people providing everything from details of the location, pictures and the water level. Just search with #ChennaiRains for real-time updates.

Sea turns black at Marina

In a repeat of 2015, the sea at the Marina beach turned black on Friday. Experts said this was due to the sewage from the rivers Cooum and Adyar washed up and mixed in the sea by the floods caused by the Thursday night’s downpour.