Visuals showed roads submerged in the Pulianthope locality of north Chennai.
Heavy overnight rainfall led to waterlogging in parts of Chennai on Friday while schools and colleges remain closed in 14 districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in view of the weather situation.
The weather office has predicted heavy rainfall in parts of the state and the authorities have set up 5,093 relief camps, including 169 in Chennai.
Visuals showed roads submerged in the Pulianthope locality of north Chennai as vehicles navigated the ankle-deep water. It becomes very difficult for us to get our daily essentials, said a resident.
As many as 879 drainage pumps have been deployed in low-lying areas of the city and 60 monitoring officers have put in charge of the affected districts.
Over 2,000 relief personnel, both from the central and state disaster response forces, are on stand-by.
While the overnight rain inundated the northern part of the city, its southern and central parts, including T-Nagar and Velacherry, were spared largely due to the new storm-water drains built over the last seven months.
An ongoing Rs 3,000-crore project involving the construction of 700-km storm-water drains will address the waterlogging issues in areas like Korattur and Periya Nagar, said officials.
"We cannot ensure instant draining of rainwater. But our infrastructure ensures that the water is drained in a few hours," civic body chief Gagandeep Singh Bedi told NDTV, attributing the heavy rain to climate change.
Apart from Chennai, rain holiday has been announced in schools and colleges in Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Vellore, Salem, Namakkal, Thiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, and Ramanathapuram districts.
"We cannot ensure instant draining of rainwater. But our infrastructure ensures that the water is drained in a few hours," civic body chief Gagandeep Singh Bedi told NDTV, attributing the heavy rain to climate change.
Extremely heavy rainfall has been predicted in Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Ranipet districts. Chennai, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Kallakurichi and other districts in the delta region are bracing for heavy to very heavy rainfall.
A low-pressure area persists over the Bay of Bengal, south west off the Sri Lanka coast, bringing in rainfall in Tamil Nadu. The state is expected to receive 35%-75% more rainfall this northeast monsoon season.