Rains to keep pounding Chennai till Tuesday

CHENNAI: Heavy rains lashed Chennai and its suburbs on Saturday. A whopping 7 cm of rainfall was recorded at Nungambakkam weather station in the city, which was the highest in the State. Light to moderate rainfall was witnessed in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.

The regional meteorological centre here has forecast more rainfall in Chennai and its surrounding areas till July 20. A low-pressure region is expected to form near the Odisha coast in the next week, and until then, parts of Tamil Nadu would witness intense rainfall before the action shifts to the West coast, it said. 

The Met office said thunderstorms with heavy rainfall are likely at isolated places over the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Theni, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore, Ranipet, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu districts.

Chennai’s maximum and minimum temperatures will be about 34 and 26 degrees Celsius respectively. Maduranthagam in Chengalpattu district and Tiruttani in Tiruvallur received the highest rainfall of 9 cm in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday. The DGP office in Chennai, as well as Sholinganallur and Ambattur, received 8 cm of rainfall.