The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rain, and a recurring problem… waterlogging

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rain, and a recurring problem… waterlogging

Staff Reporter

Relief over dipping mercury tempered by having to deal with flooding; traffic thrown out of gear

RAIN FALLOUT: Puddles of rainwater on the potholed stretches of Vyasarpadi bus depot on Tuesday (left). A tree fell on one of the classrooms of Adi Dravidar Middle School in West Tambaram on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Waterlogging on the city’s roads following Monday night’s showers threw traffic out of gear along several stretches on Tuesday.

The relief over dipping temperatures (33 degrees Celsius at Nungambakkam and 32 degrees Celsius at Meenambakkam) on Tuesday was tempered by the frustration of negotiating flooded roads.

The city recorded a rainfall of 3 cm in Nungambakkam and 1 cm in Meenambakkam on Tuesday during the 12 hours up to 8.30 a.m.

The Chembarambakkam reservoir received 2 cm of rainfall and the reservoirs at Poondi and Red Hills recorded 1 cm of rainfall on Tuesday. A meteorological official, attributing the showers to thunderstorm activity, said the mercury level would further drop in the coming days, he added.

Heavy traffic

Key roads in the city, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, especially the stretch between Koyambedu and Guindy, Chennai-Tiruvallur Road between Ambattur and Padi, parts of Poonamallee High Road near Aminjikarai and those at Velachery were choked with heavy traffic during the morning rush hour. Several motorists were forced to detour to avoid the jams.

Road users had tough time negotiating waterlogged roads, particularly in North Chennai, including Jamalia first street, roads in Hyder Garden and MKB Nagar.

G.Paranjyothi, a resident of Jamalia said Jamalia first street, which sees heavy traffic, was badly waterlogged and called for urgent desilting of the storm water drains.

The delay in executing civic works has worsened the problems in areas such as MGR Nagar.

A resident of MGR Nagar V. Gopalakrishnan said that the sewage pipeline repair, delayed by six months, had damaged Anna Main Road and K.K.Salai junction. He complained that ongoing repairs to stormwater drains had left little space for the vehicle movement. The rains had worsened the problem, he added.

Forecast

The weather department has forecast generally cloudy sky and showers or thundershowers in parts of the city on Wednesday. The southern suburbs have had brief spells of rain accompanied by strong winds.

Though no rain was recorded on Tuesday, the suburbs registered 4.4 centimetres of rainfall since June 7, official sources said.

Though paltry in view of the north-east monsoon, the rainfall was enough to improve the water level in lakes, render roads slushy and hamper flow of traffic on arterial roads. On Sunday, a tree came crashing down on the Adi Dravidar Middle School in West Tambaram, damaging the tiled roofs of one of the classrooms.

Fortunately, it happened on a holiday. The classrooms in the school, more than 50 years old, were already in a dilapidated condition.

On Tuesday, residents were seen chopping off the branches of the tree and clearing it.

The silt left behind by flow of rain water in some of the subways in the suburbs still remained.

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