Heavy rainfall pounded many parts of Chennai starting steadily from Wednesday night till Thursday. The heavy rains, which have crossed 100 mm in parts of the city, are predicted to continue steadily for the next three hours till 9 am. Mylapore recorded 178 mm and Redhills recorded 128 mm and the recorded rainfall is the highest in 24 hours in Chennai since November 2017, said weather blogger Pradeep John. The rains picked up intensity and this has resulted in waterlogging in places including Thiruvanmiyur, Egmore and Mylapore.
As per the rainfall data released by Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, Mylapore crossed the 100 mm mark by recording a rainfall of 178 mm. Purasawalkam and Ambattur also neared the 100 mm mark by registering a rainfall of 94 mm and 90 mm respectively. Alandur recorded 78.50 mm of rainfall followed by Sholinganallur with 77.20 mm, Guindy 75.20 mm, Tondiarpet 67 mm, Permabur 56.10 mm, Egmore 54.80 mm and Ayanavaram with 53 mm of rainfall. The average rainfall recorded by the city stands at 97.27 mm.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) tweeted, “As per latest observations, intense convective clouds present over Chennai and adjoining areas of Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts have the potential to cause heavy rainfall during the next three hrs (till 9 am).”
Many places witnessed heavy rains from midnight including Anna Nagar, T Nagar, Velachery and Royapettah. Waterlogging has been recorded from Thiruvanmiyur, Egmore and Mylapore. The heavy rains have thrown normal life out of gear since many motorists were stranded due to the waterlogging.
Pradeep John said that Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Chennai will continue to receive steady rains for the next two days. The mornings are likely to receive peak rains as a result of upper air circulation, he said. The weatherman in his blog post said, "Not only the dryline is meeting with wetline winds along with the onset of monsoon but these types of rains are totally unpredictable, if we fall over the dry area influx we will miss the rains and if we meet exactly over the converging area, there will be heavy rains."
On Wednesday, the Meteorological Department deputy director general S Balachandran said, "The Southwest monsoon moved away from the Indian region paving way for the onset of Northeast monsoon in Kerala and Tamil Nadu."
#Egmore EVR road. #ChennaiRains pic.twitter.com/kLuCdbVU8K
— Dhivya Marunthiah (@DhivCM) October 29, 2020
Insane pounding in parts of #Chennai with lots of scary thunders. 100mm crossed in #mylapore (private RG). More rains on the way #ChennaiRains. NEM onset with a bang
— Jaswanth Weatherman(Welcome NEM) (@JW_Chennai) October 28, 2020
Till 3.30am #Mylapore 100mm#Palavakkam 80mm#Chepauk 60mm#Royapettah 50mm @ChennaiRains @praddy06 pic.twitter.com/Y35slLiOxH
The Regional Meteorological Department (RMD) predicted mild to moderate rains for the next 48 hours starting from Wednesday. The cyclonic activities are likely to bring rains to Thirunelveli, Tenkasi and Virudhunagar districts.
Chennai and neighbouring districts will have cloudy skies with moderate rains coupled with thunderstorm, said the RMD, Chennai.
Light to moderate rainfall alert has been issued to all the districts of Tamil Nadu, while heavy rainfall alert has been issued to the districts of Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli.