After merely a few hours of heavy rain on Wednesday morning, the city was brought to its knees.
The usual scene of choked roads, power blackouts and flooded subways and roads, played out across the city, once again, making citizens wonder about the fragile civic infrastructure in place.
While a number of subways in south Chennai were flooded, leading to traffic congestion, the poor stormwater drain network resulted in several arterial roads stagnating with rain water.
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Traffic movement was affected for hours on Poonamallee High Road, GST Road, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Perambur High Road, Medavakkam Main Road, Velachery Main Road, and in Purasawalkam, Kilpauk, Kotturpuram and Egmore.
Commuters complained of bumper-to-bumper traffic because of flooding despite the arterial roads having stormwater drain facilities.
Kotturpuram resident Aarti Krishnakumar said she was stuck in traffic between Kotturpuram and Tidel Park for more than an hour.
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Adding to the woes of residents were power cuts — implemented in several parts of the city for more than two hours — that began about the time the rains started.
D. Venkatraman, a resident of Nanganallur, said power supply was cut off from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m., despite the rain stopping by noon. Several areas in the city, including Adyar, T. Nagar, Velachery, Nanganallur and Madipakkam, faced power disruption. Areas in north Chennai were spared, but the area did not receive very heavy rains.
A senior official of Tangedco said power supply was disconnected in several parts of south Chennai to prevent any mishap in the heavy rain. In several localities where power supply was disrupted, the connections were energised within a few minutes of the rains stopping, he said.
In Nanganallur, the delay in restoring supply was due to fault in three feeders, which was rectified within an hour, the official said.
Residents also complained of Corporation officials not answering their calls to register complaints.
Airport flooded
Due to the downpour, the stormwater drains at Chennai airport clogged up, leaving the arrival hall of the domestic terminal flooded. Officials of Airports Authority of India said the area was cleaned up after a while. "Since Metro Rail work is also in progress at the airport, there was increased waterlogging. The rains were unexpected. However, only a few flight movements were affected on Wednesday," an official said.
Trains delayed
Due to signal fault at Kodambakkam, more than four long-distance trains proceeding from Egmore station, including Muthu Nagar Express, Pandian Express and Madurai-Nizamuddin Express, departed late by more than an hour causing much inconvenience to commuters. An official of Southern Railway said the fault was being attended to.
(With additional reporting by Sunitha Sekar)