The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : City gets drenched, poor stormwater drains exposed

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Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

City gets drenched, poor stormwater drains exposed

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: K. PICHUMANI

A bolt from the blue: A streak of lightning lighting up the dark sky during the rain on Tuesday evening.

CHENNAI: Commuters returning home from work were caught unawares by the hour-long heavy rain that lashed the city on Tuesday evening. It also brought to the fore the need for expediting desilting of stormwater drains in several parts of the city. Early in the morning the sky was overcast, but it gradually cleared up around 8 a.m. and by afternoon it was hot and sultry. The rain in the evening took people by surprise and many of them were drenched before they could take shelter.

Many arterial roads such as Anna Salai were water logged. The service lane along the Higginbothams Book Stall and the road margins along Gemini flyover and the Arts College junction were submerged in shin-high water. Despite it being rush hour, traffic slowed down in some areas until the rain stopped, traffic police said.

Traffic came to a grinding halt in Velachery, as the Velachery Main Road was flooded. The Perambur High Road at Jamalia and Purasawalkam High Road, an important link road for the people of north Chennai, were flooded, completely disrupting traffic.

A. Premanand, a resident of Purasawalkam, said that the slow pace of desilting of the stormwater drain network led to water stagnation on these roads. “The Chennai Corporation should at least now speed up the desilting of the drains,” he said. Millers Road was in complete shambles because the road has been dug up for construction of stormwater drain network. So was the case with localities in west Velachery where stormwater drain work is in progress for several months now. In several residential areas, people had to wade through water. Matters were made worse as vehicles rushed through inundated roads splashing rainwater on pedestrians.

Weather forecast

According to Meteorological Department, Nungambakkam received 28.4 mm of rainfall until 8 p.m., while it was 2.6 mm in Meenambakkam. The maximum temperature was 35.3 degrees Celsius in Nungambakkam and 34.8 degrees Celsius in Meenambakkam. The department has forecast a generally cloudy day on Wednesday with showers or thunder showers in some areas.

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