Chennai Rain: Chennai airport has suspended arrivals in view of the heavy rain and crosswinds
A 'red alert' for heavy rainfall - issued for eight Tamil Nadu districts, including Chennai - was withdrawn after the depression that triggered the alarm, and led to widespread flooding in the city and across the state, weakened at landfall.
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The alert had been issued for Chennai and the Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Vellore, Salem, Kallakurichi, Tirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai districts. It was withdrawn after the weather department said the depression had weakened, and that rainfall activity is now likely to be concentrated over the southern Andhra Pradesh coast.
Andhra Pradesh is now prepping for heavy rains, with a wary eye on another low-pressure area likely to hit next week. Heavy rains have already lashed parts of the state, prompting Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy to open relief camps and evacuate people from low-lying areas. Emergency teams have been sent to SPS Nellore and Chittoor - two districts on the border with Tamil Nadu.
Chennai airport has resumed normal operations after suspending arrivals between 1.15 pm and 6 pm over fears of crosswinds. Passengers have been asked to contact the concerned airline(s) for flight schedules, the airport tweeted.
Heavy rain - up to 16 cm till 8.30 am and another five cm through the day - pounded several Tamil Nadu districts overnight and this morning, particularly over northern districts like Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, and Villupuram. 14 people have died in rain-related incidents, a senior official told news agency ANI.
Schools and colleges were closed in Chennai and other districts for a fourth straight day, and several areas in the capital remain waterlogged for a fifth straight day. The government had urged people to stay indoors as far as possible.
Visuals shared by ANI showed floodwaters entering a hospital in Chennai's KK Nagar. Other visuals showed flooding outside the metro station near Madras High Court. One video showed a police officer carrying an unconscious man on her shoulders.
Residents in areas like Periyar Nagar (a low-lying area in Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency) showed NDTV how floodwaters had entered their home, and said they despaired of the government fixing an annual problem in the flood-prone city. Mr Stalin blamed the AIADMK government for a "shoddy job", and the Madras High Court asked the city's civic body: "What have you been doing since 2015?"
The NDRF deployed 11 teams in Tamil Nadu and two in Puducherry, with five more on standby. Two more have been sent to Andhra Pradesh - one to SPS Nellore and one to Chittoor. Teams from the State Disaster Response Force have also been deployed.
Tamil Nadu has recorded more than 50 per cent excess rainfall (as compared to historical average) between October 1 and November 10. During this period rainfall in the state was 38 cm, which is 52 per cent above normal. Chennai received 61 cm of rain in the same period, against a historical average of 41 cm.
Over half of all reservoirs and lakes in the state are at least 75 per cent full already, raising fears of a repeat of 2015, when a sudden excess discharge from Chennai's Chembarambakkam reservoir flooded over four lakh homes in the city.
With input from ANI, PTI
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