Chennai Rain: Chennai airport has suspended arrivals in view of the heavy rain and crosswinds
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Extremely heavy rainfall has been forecast for Chennai and seven Tamil Nadu districts, and Puducherry, with predicted winds in excess of 45 km per hour. Alerts are in place for Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Vellore, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, and Salem, as well as Chennai. Rainfall is expected over Villupuram, Cuddalore, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Perambalur and Ariyalur.
A depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal is moving towards the state's northern coast. At 8.30 am it was 130 km east-southeast of Chennai and 150 km east-northeast of Puducherry. It is expected to move west-northwest and cross sometime this evening.
Heavy rain pounded several Tamil Nadu districts last night and this morning, particularly the northern districts; this includes capital Chennai and nearby Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Villupuram. At least 14 people have died, a senior official told news agency ANI this morning.
Schools and colleges have been closed in Chennai and other districts for a fourth straight day, and several areas in the capital city remain waterlogged for a fifth straight day. The government has urged people to stay home as far as possible, and asked them not to leave unless it is an emergency.
Visuals shared by ANI showed floodwaters entering a hospital in Chennai's KK Nagar. Other visuals showed massive flooding outside the metro station near Madras High Court. A particularly worrying video showed a police officer carrying an unconscious man on her shoulders.
"We've deployed 11 teams in Tamil Nadu and two in Puducherry. Five more are on standby. All teams are self-contained - with equipment to deal with all types of disasters. Advice to people is that if your house isn't flooded, then stay indoors, Rekha Nambiyar, a senior officer with the 4th Battalion of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) told ANI.
Residents in areas like Periyar Nagar (a low-lying area that comes under Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency) showed NDTV how floodwaters had destroyed their home, and said they despaired of the government fixing what is an annual problem in the flood-prone city.
Mr Stalin, meanwhile, blamed the earlier AIADMK regime for doing a "shoddy job" handling the Rs 5,000 crore project to fix the city's storm water drains. "We have done up to 60 per cent of the work in six months. After the rainy season, we will set the rest of Chennai right," he said, after the madras High Court asked the city's civic body: "What have you been doing since 2015?"
Apart from air traffic, rains have affected vehicular and rail traffic too, with 13 subways in Chennai flooded and waterlogging at many places in the city. Southern Railway said a majority of services from Chennai Central to Tiruvallur had been suspended due to water on tracks at Avadi and Ambattur. There are also delays on northern lines towards Gummidipoondi.
Tamil Nadu has recorded more than 50 per cent excess rainfall (as compared to historical average) between October 1 and November 10. During this period rainfall in the state was 38 cm, which is 52 per cent above normal. Chennai received 61 cm of rain in the same period, against a historical average of 41 cm.
With input from ANI, PTI
