As the northeast monsoon hit the city on Friday, there was complete chaos.
With unrelenting rain from about 11 a.m., the roads were soon flooded, leading to traffic pile-ups, and leaving commuters stranded in knee-deep water in several areas.
Though meteorologists described Friday’s rain as possessing all the characteristics of the northeast monsoon, the Regional Meteorological Centre plans to declare the arrival of the monsoon on Saturday. S.B. Thampi, deputy director general of meteorology, said the department would declare the onset after monitoring the persistence of the conditions
While the rain brought cheer to a city reeling under relatively hot conditions for the time of the year and dipping groundwater levels, the joy lasted only a couple of hours until roads — including key ones like T.T.K. Road, Gandhi Mandapam Road and Rajamannar Salai in K.K. Nagar — began to get inundated.
Though the city is used to such a situation, the fact that it happened with a few hours of rainfall got residents questioning the role of the civic body.
In the absence of proper rainwater harvesting systems, water from buildings streamed onto already inundated streets. Motorists on arterial roads , including Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, Poonamallee High Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai, were stranded for long hours in crawling traffic. S. Kumar, a resident, said: “Several main roads in K.K. Nagar are flooded with knee-deep water. I struggled to repair my car that got stuck on the inundated Rajamannar Salai.”
The rains also dampened business in shopping hubs. N. Satyaseelan, past president of the Purasawalkam Traders Association, said, “This place was teeming with crowds till Thursday. But after the rains started, we got only 70 per cent of the usual festival shopping crowd.”
Rains to continueA trough of low pressure over the Bay of Bengal, along the southern Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan coasts, brought the heavy downpour over the city and its suburbs. While Meenambakkam, Kolapakkam, and Anna University recorded 8 cm of rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., Chembarambakkam registered 7 cm. However, places such as Nungambakkam and Poonamallee received only 4 cm of rainfall during the period.
Y.E.A. Raj, former deputy director general of meteorology, said heavy rain spells were a classic indicator of the onset of the monsoon. It rains during the early morning hours and late evenings unlike during the southwest monsoon when clouds develop during the evening hours. Coastal regions will receive heavy rains.
The meteorological department has forecast that rains will continue on Saturday and the maximum temperature will be around 32 degree Celsius.
