Cities » Chennai
Chennai, December 1, 2015
Updated: December 1, 2015 14:51 IST
Flood warning along the Adyar in Chennai

The Hindu
A view of the Sterling road junction flooded with rain water at Nungambakkam in Chennai on
Tuesday. Photo. M. Moorthy

The Hindu
The govt. has started releasing 20,000 cubic feet per second of water from
Chembarambakkam reservoir, the highest volume of outflow in several years.
Chennai City seems to he heading for a crisis of sorts as the government has started releasing
20,000 cubic feet per second of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adyar. This is the
highest volume of outflow from the reservoir in several years. On November 17, a day after the
city received over 25 centimetres of rainfall, Public Works Department released 18,000 cusecs of
water from the reservoir.
Chennai Collector E.Sundaravalli issued a flood warning and appealed to families living along
Adyar river to move to safer places. Earlier in the day, it was increased to 5,000 cubic feet per
second. The outflow was just 900 cusecs on Monday evening.
After pounding and battering the city for a month, heavy rains resumed overnight on Monday
after a brief break for four days. For the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday, the rainfall level
recorded in the city was 3 three centimetres. Between morning and noon, the city received more
than 8 centimetres, officials said.
Suburban train services on the Chennai Beach — Tambaram sector were crippled. Services on
the Chennai Central — Tiruvallur sector were also disrupted. Arterial roads were flooded and
traffic was affected.
PTI reports
Heavy rains lash parts of TN
Heavy rains on Tuesday lashed parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and neighbouring
Puducherry, disrupting flight movement and leaving several areas inundated.
The picture looks no better for Wednesday with the weather office forecasting heavy to very
heavy rainfall for Tamil Nadu, especially over the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and
Kancheepuram.
It also forecast heavy rains for Puducherry.
“The trough of low pressure now lies over Southwest Bay adjoining Sri Lanka off Tamil Nadu,”
officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) told PTI.
Under its influence, widespread rains are expected across the state on Wednesday, with the
possibility of “scattered heavy to isolated very heavy rainfall over coastal districts,” they said.
The weather office forecast “isolated extremely heavy rainfall” for Chennai, Kancheepuram and
Tiruvallur which have been already been facing the brunt of the northeast monsoon since last
month.
A holiday has been declared on Tuesday for educational institutions in these districts, which
have been experiencing heavy downpour, officials said.
In Chennai, office-goers found it tough to make it to their workplaces on time with the
incessant rains resulting in water-logging in several areas. Many of them opted to travel by state
government buses, suburban train services and Metro Rail.
Most roads were left in a damaged state, with motorists finding it hard to negotiate potholes.
At Adyar, a part of the road near the Madhya Kailash intersection had caved in on Monday,
prompting authorities to redirect traffic on the busy stretch.
Flight operations also took a hit due to the inclement weather. Airport officials said one flight,
which left Colombo this morning, returned.
Puducherry, which was pounded by rains since last night recorded 15.2 cm rain in the last 24
hours ending 0830 today, disrupting normal life. A holiday was declared for educational
institutions.