Chennai Schools Shut Today After Rain Alert, Minister In Charge On Foreign Tour

Chennai: Schools in Chennai and other coastal districts in Tamil Nadu will be closed today after the weather department has warned of heavy spell rain. Chennai received intermittent showers last night. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami reviewed the monsoon preparedness.

Officials have declared holiday today for schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.

Chief Minister E Palaniswami said on Sunday, "There's no water-logging in Chennai now. Inundation was mainly in low-lying areas. The 434 crore storm water drain project Jayalalithaa had launched is nearing completion". The state's Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani he added has gone on a study tour to Australia. During the earlier spell of heavy rain, he had said that his state is better prepared as compared to developed nations. "It rained in Bengaluru recently, earlier it rained in the UK and US and we were told it was flooded everywhere. It shows our action is better than those of developed countries," Mr Velumani had said.

The northeast monsoon, which set in during the last week of October, had led to severe water-logging in Chennai recently, triggering fears of a repeat of the December 2015 floods. Earlier this month, schools were closed for a week and re-opened only last Tuesday. People were advised to stay indoors and IT companies gave its employees the option to work from home.

Authorities had blamed it on rains up to 30 cm rain received in six hours in the coastal pockets. However, while water-logging cleared in Chennai's main city area the next day, several low-lying areas outside the city in the northern and southern areas faced inundation for close to a week, causing anger among the residents.