When it did rain, it poured: the monsoon arrives

The northeast monsoon evaded the October 27 schedule forecast by the Met department, but on Monday it brought intense showers through out Chennai

October 31, 2017 12:25 am | Updated 07:46 am IST - CHENNAI

City caught unprepared: Motorcyclists and pedestrians struggle on the streets of Chennai on Monday.

City caught unprepared: Motorcyclists and pedestrians struggle on the streets of Chennai on Monday.

In what could be described as the first intense rain spell this Northeast monsoon, several parts of the city received moderate showers since Sunday night. While the typical monsoon day has come as a relief for the city reeling under water shortage, it also brought with it the usual host of civic issues.

Though the meteorological department announced the onset of monsoon on October 27, the rains were evasive for core parts of the city till Sunday. A cyclonic circulation that lies over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Sri Lanka is expect to sustain moderate showers over the State for the next two days.

Upto 8.30 p.m. on Monday, the Nungambakkam station recorded 8.35 cm of rainfall and Meenambakkam 6.59 cm.

Rains may favour north coastal Tamil Nadu during this spell as the meteorological department has predicted that rains may be heavy to very heavy (ranging between 7 cm and 20 cm) in one or two places. A few places in interior Tamil Nadu too would get heavy rainfall. S.Balachandran, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said moderate showers are expected to continue till Wednesday in city too. The wet spell is likely to last till the weekend over the State.

From the early hours of Monday, several western parts of the city, including Anna Nagar, Ambattur, Porur and Valasaravakkam experienced a heavy downpour. Core parts of the city including Nungambakkam received intermittent showers.

Blogger Pradeep John said that some isolated areas got very good rains. A private weather station at Perumbakkam recorded around 10 cm of rain after 4.30 p.m. “It was like a squall, the sky turned very dark and people were driving with their headlights on,” he said. On Monday after 8.30 a.m., Taramani recorded 10.4 cm and Redhills 9 cm, he added. Several schools in the city closed an hour earlier due to intermittent showers and waterlogging.

Water logging

It is that time of the year when roads get choked with traffic and sewage overflow. Within a few hours of rain, places like Mogappair, Nungambakkam, T.Nagar and Ambattur were water logged. Industrial units in Ambattur estate had to down their shutters due to waterlogging on their premises. They complained that the stormwater drain laid recently did not help alleviate flooding. In some places where speed breakers had been laid, water flow was blocked.

V. Rajagopal, a resident of Anna Nagar Western Extension, said sewage mixed rainwater stagnated near Ambattur estate and Thirumangalam main road. The unfinished stormwater drain work has also added to the problems.

Some of the private automatic weather stations in Anna Nagar recorded nearly 8 cm of rainfall till 3 p.m. on Monday. This could be the beginning of an active phase of monsoon that is likely to bring heavy spells at times over the city during the first week of November, note weather bloggers.

K.Srikanth of Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam said western suburbs experienced good spell that was intense at times. The same weather trend would continue for two days as the weather system is stationary now. There would be more clarity on intensity of rainfall in the coming days depending on the movement of the weather system.

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