The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Unusual amount of rainfall received

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Unusual amount of rainfall received

R. Srikanth and Kannal Achuthan

City received 25 times the normal rainfall expected for the period

Photos : M. Vedhan, Chennai Corporation

Rain havoc: A tree that collapsed at T. Sector, Third Avenue, Anna Nagar, on Friday. Chennai Corporation Mayor M. Subramanian visiting a rain-affected area in North Chennai on Saturday. —

CHENNAI: In the first three weeks of this month, the city has received 25 times the normal rainfall expected for the period.

From March 1 – 21, the Nungambakkam observatory of the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) recorded 126 mm of rainfall against the normal rainfall of just 5 mm for this period.

In meteorological parlance, ‘normal’ refers to the average rainfall recorded in a place over three decades. Friday’s deluge was the heaviest this month. Nungambakkam recorded 70 mm of rainfall and Meenambakkam, 80 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Saturday.

The rains are due to a “well marked low pressure area lying over the south east and adjoining east central Arabian Sea,” RMC officials said. A few spells of rain have been forecast for Sunday.

Rainwater stagnated on roads in the city and the suburbs after the rains on Friday. Mayor M. Subramanian visited several parts of the city. He inspected the condition of Slum Clearance Board tenements in Gangaikarai in Nungambakkam and directed that the repairs to the roof be done immediately. The Vyasarpadi Ganesapuram subway, which was inundated, was drained of water using motor pumps.

For people in the southern suburbs, commuting to the city proved to be difficult as Medavakkam Main Road turned messy. The road, which gets flooded even after a drizzle, had stagnant pools of water on both sides of the road reducing the carriageway.

Huge craters

With the underground sewerage project work moving at a slow pace, the rain added to the misery of road users. Huge craters have formed because of poor patch work along the stretches that had been dug up.

The stretch of East Coast Road at Palavakkam was flooded with rainwater.

In Velachery, the rains left a small ‘swimming pool’ on the Sarathy Nagar Main Road (near 5th Street) causing inconvenience to pedestrians.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu