Saturday night’s downpour and persistent rain on Sunday tested the city’s infrastructure, with several stretches that have a track record for water inundation once again coming under sheets of water.
After Saturday night’s rainfall, the Meenambakkam observatory recorded 13 cm of rain and Nungambakkam received 8 cm of rain till 8.30 a.m. on Sunday and an additional 4 cm during the rest of the day. More rains are forecast for Monday.
The depression, which crossed the coast close to Nagapattinam, weakened and on Sunday evening lay as a low pressure area over Lakshwadeep area and adjoining Kerala. Met department sources said though the system had weakened, it was likely to continue to draw moist currents from the Bay of Bengal and bring rains.
Deputy director of meteorology Y.E.A. Raj said with the northeast monsoon being vigorous over Tamil Nadu, the State had received a good amount of rainfall. Except Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga, all other districts recorded rain. “We can expect some amount of rainfall over the next 3-4 days. The Bay of Bengal is being watched for any new systems,” he said.
Meanwhile, Saturday night’s rainfall led to the inundation of several roads. Roads known for water-logging, including Tondiarpet High Road, Choolai High Road, Basin Bridge Road, Kaliamman Koil Street, Arcot Road, General Patters Road, Santhome High Road, P.S. Sivaswamy Salai and Rajiv Gandhi Salai, were partially under water. Vehicular subways, including the Gengu Reddy and Ganesapuram ones, were inundated until motors were used to pump out the water.
Low-lying areas including streets off OMR, Thoraipakkam Radial Road and Medavakkam-Sholinganallur Road too were water-logged. B. Kannan, a resident of Thoraipakkam, said stormwater drains leading to the Buckingham canal had not been constructed, resulting in the water-logging.
“The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company had announced long ago that it would construct drains to prevent water-logging when the height of the road was increased. But that never happened and they washed their hands off the issue and after our areas came under Chennai Corporation they were supposed to construct it. But even after two years of the city’s expansion, nothing has happened,” he said.
General Patters Road (Thiru-Vi-Ka Road) was closed for traffic for some time as there was heavy water stagnation. Road users had a difficult time negotiating the potholes on Tiruvottiyur High Road, Arcot Road and Madhavaram High Road.
S.A. Badrusaman, a resident of Egmore, said even small amounts of rainfall caused water-logging on several streets including Commissioner Office Road, Pantheon Road, Gandhi Irwin Road and Halls Road.
“The stormwater drains on Gandhi Irwin Road do not have openings and therefore the public had to open the manholes to allow the water to drain,” he said.
Mayor Saidai Duraisamy, who along with Corporation commissioner Vikram Kapur visited Arcot Road and Valluvar Kottam, directed civic body officials to ensure that water stagnated due to Metro Rail work was drained.
According to a press release, in 2011 there were a total of 291 water-logging prone spots but the number had now come down to 98.
