FLOODED ROAD: The rain spell on Tuesday inundated several roads in Chennai. A scene on General Patter's Road off Anna Salai. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: City dwellers were caught unawares as heavy rain lashed the city on Tuesday afternoon. Several parts of the city were inundated in the rain that lasted for over an hour.

T. Nagar, Santhome, Villivakkam, Mylapore, Maraimalai Nagar and Ambattur experienced rain in the late afternoon. School children and motorists had a tough time negotiating the Santhome High Road, which was under waist-deep water. A resident of Mylapore said that the stretch from Santhome Cathedral to Foreshore Estate is most affected whenever there is a shower. Residents of P.S. Sivaswamy Salai, Mylapore also face a similar problem.

Two trees on 5th Avenue, Anna Nagar and Basin Bridge Road were uprooted. Several interior roads at Anna Nagar and subways including Mambalam and Perambur were inundated.

The Meteorological Department forecast few spells of showers or thunder showers.

Water situation

The rain has stabilised the storage position in city reservoirs and increased supply from other sources such as Kandaleru reservoir and Veeranam lake, according to PWD and Metro Water officials.

The Poondi reservoir received an inflow of 340 cubic feet a second (cusecs) on Tuesday from Kandaleru reservoir of Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu has realised 183 million cubic feet of water in a week.

Kandaleru reservoir had a storage of 9.4 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water and had inflow of 1,220 cusecs released from Somasila reservoir. Rains at catchment areas of Somasila helped in building up storage at Kandaleru.

Last year, Tamil Nadu received only Krishna river water. Rains this year has helped in better inflow into Poondi, which is expected to increase to 500 cusecs in two days. With the present inflow, the expected minimum realisation of 4 TMC can be realised in about five or six months, he added.

The storage at Veeranam Lake was also comfortable for city supply.

The rain spells led to hike in vegetable prices in the city. Vendors said there was a drop in the amount of farm produce reaching the Koyambedu wholesale market. Rain in Andhra Pradesh has affected both harvesting and transportation of vegetables.

The cost of beans was Rs. 18 a kg, while carrots cost Rs. 20 a kg.

The price of tomatoes was also on the higher side with a kilo costing Rs. 16 in the retail market.

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