Chennai: Rain lashed Chennai city for several hours on Thursday evening throwing normal life out of gear. It caused flooding on roads, including Santhome High Road and GN Chetty Road in T. Nagar, EVK Sampath Salai in Vepery, GP Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Subways were closed for traffic and motorists had to struggle with poor visibility.

Marina beach road was also closed after the area got inundated by Monday morning. Following a rain forecast for Friday and another three days, the Collectors of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram have declared a holiday for schools.

The rain affected the movement of several flights at Chennai airport and slowed down local trains on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram route. The core city and the southern suburbs bore the brunt of the rain. As of 10.30pm, Chennai recorded 11.9cm, the Ennore port 4cm and Meenambakkam 9.7cm.

Though residents woke up to a warm day with Nungambakkam recording a maximum of 30.1 degree Celsius and Meenambakkam 30.4 degree Celsius, by 2pm the skies darkened and the city witnessed widespread moderate rainfall.

Employees were stuck at their offices since visibility on the roads was very poor. However, the rain was mainly restricted to the city. Many areas in neighbouring Kancheepuram, excepting for those coming under city’s southern suburbs, experienced only a drizzle, said V. Sundaram, a resident of Kancheepuram.

Relief And Rescue Work

At the Chennai Corporation, Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, Tamil Development Minister Ma Foi Pandiarajan, Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar and others met and reviewed the relief and rescue work carried out by the civic body.

The rains have lead to clogging and overflowing of sewer lines, sewage mixing with rainwater and a slow down in garbage clearance. Arun Sampath Kumar, secretary, Secretariat Colony Residents Welfare Association, said that sewage was getting mixed with the stagnant rainwater in his locality due to incomplete stormwater drain network.

After the downpour on Wednesday, South Perumal Koil Street, Vadapalani, was filled with sludge and sewage. Residents said that crossing the lanes to reach the main road to head to work was tough.

“It took me around 10 minutes to cross the road. There was garbage and sludge everywhere. Last evening was even worse,” said N. Aakash, an IT employee. He added that following complaints from residents, conservancy workers from the Corporation came to the street and cleaned all of it up.