Monday was yet another day at work for S. Anthony at the Madhya Kailash intersection. That was until around 3.30 p.m., when he heard the noise of mud falling down behind him. When he turned around, he found a gaping hole at the Madhya Kailash intersection on Sardar Patel Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
There was a steady flow of vehicles from Adyar; he motioned the motorists to halt ahead of the gaping hole. “The SI acted swiftly and placed barricades around the huge crater on the road. It was very deep, probably more than 6 feet with a lot of water,” an eye-witness said.
Soon after the spot was barricaded, motorists and people employed in shops around Madhya Kailash pitched in to help the policemen place planks over the crater. They brought wooden planks and placed them over the crater and also helped traffic police to guide motorists around the crater. Police and Chennai Metrowater officials reached the spot and carried out an inspection.
Photos and videos of the crater soon flooded Facebook and Twitter and evoked a lot of responses with many social media users cautioning people travelling around the spot to be safe as steady showers continued through the evening.
As rains resumed with vigour after a lull, reports of roads caving in came in from different parts of the city.
A portion of Gandhi Mandapam Road caved in near Kotturpuram bridge. While traffic was not diverted in the area there, residents living there said they did not venture out after 6 p.m. These incidents follow similar ones, reported from P.S.Sivaswamy Salai in Mylapore, Taramani Link Road and Mahakavi Bharathi Nagar.
On Monday morning, the rear wheels of a Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus got stuck in a manhole at the Sathyamurthi Nagar – Mullai Nagar intersection at Mahakavi Bharathi Nagar. A week ago, the road here had caved in at three spots.
