The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Residents caught unawares as showers lash city

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Thursday, Sep 25, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Residents caught unawares as showers lash city

City Bureau

Several arterial roads inundated and traffic thrown out of gear

— Photo: S.Thanthoni

MIGHTY FALL: Following the heavy rains in Chennai on Wednesday, a tree on Spurtank Road fell down, causing panic among motorists.

CHENNAI: Sudden showers lashed the city on Wednesday evening leaving several arterial roads inundated and throwing traffic out of gear.

Residents of areas across the city, including T.Nagar, Mandaveli, Anna Nagar and Tambaram said that the intensity of the downpour was high and it spanned about one hour between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Arterial roads such as Anna Salai, Poonamallee High Road, Grand Southern Trunk Road were flooded, which led to traffic pile-up. Several motorists returning from office were stranded.

Woman dies

A 30-year-old woman died on the spot and her husband was hurt when lightning struck in Tambaram on Wednesday evening. Police said the victim, Kala and her husband Mathi, were travelling on a motorcycle on the road over bridge at Irumbuliyur when the accident took place. Her relatives, motorists and traffic policemen rushed the couple to a private hospital in Tambaram, where Kala was pronounced dead on arrival. Mathi is undergoing treatment.

The couple were residents of Ambedkar Nagar, Kunrathur.

Several trees were uprooted in the interior roads of Chromepet, Chitlapakkam and Selaiyur. V.Santhanam, president of Chromepet New Colony residents welfare association said the stretch of GST Road near Chromepet was heavily inundated bringing to light the lack of monsoon preparedness by the authorities concerned.

Several areas in the western and southern suburbs, including Ambattur and Sembakkam had to endure power cuts for over an hour in the evening.

Tree uprooted

Following heavy rains, a neem tree on Spurtank Road was uprooted late Wednesday. A motorist had a narrow escape, said police personnel at the spot. G.N. Mohan, who was near the spot where the tree fell said: “A person riding a motorbike escaped narrowly. One of the branches fell on him and he sustained bruises. There was no major injury.”

Police personnel got in touch with the owners of the building that housed the tree and asked them to have the tree cleared from the road, as it was blocking traffic. Sub Inspector of Police P. Ramu, who was at the spot, said the Chennai Corporation would send workers to clear the road.

A Meteorological Department official said the rains were due to thunderstorm activity.

The department forecasts a possibility of showers or thunder showers in some areas on Thursday.

According to Meteorological website, Nungambakkam received 19.4 mm of rainfall and Meenambakkam recorded a rainfall of 18.2 mm between the 12-hour-reading that ended at 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

(With inputs from K. Lakshmi, K. Manikandan and Aloysius Xavier Lopez)

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