With an orange warning issued for Tamil Nadu for the weekend, rains continued to lash many parts of the state on Sunday. Rains continued through the night and December 1 dawned with very heavy showers in parts of the state.
According to the Saturday 10.00 pm weather bulletin from the Regional Meteorological Centre, “Scattered heavy with isolated very heavy rain is likely to continue over Coastal and adjoining districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on December 1.”
The heavy and very heavy rainfall is also expected to extend upto Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Thiruppur and Erode that form the western districts of Tamil Nadu. Thunderstorm with lightning is likely to continue in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal until Monday.
Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on Monday while heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Warning for fishermen
Squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph is likely to prevail over Comorin, Maldives and adjoining Lakshadweep area and therefore fishermen have been advised not to venture out into the sea on Sunday.
The bulletin explains, “A low-pressure area has formed over southwest Arabian sea and adjoining equatorial Indian ocean and likely to become more marked during the next 48 hours. Another low-pressure area is likely to form over the Southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Lakshadweep area during the next 24 hours. It is likely to become more marked during the subsequent 24 hours.”
Rainfall received
Talaignayar in Nagapattinam district recorded the highest amount of rainfall on November 30, with 16 cms of rain. Mayiladuthurai also in Nagapattinam came second, recording 14 cms of rain, followed by Pudukottai town in Pudukkottai district and Kodavasal in Thiruvarur district with 13 cms each.
According to a report from RMC, most districts in the state have recorded deficit rainfall from October 1 to November 30 this year. Vellore in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have recorded the most deficit during this period. While Puducherry’s normal rainfall is 640.6 mm, during this period, it recorded 34% less at 425.8 mm, whereas Vellore where normal rainfall is 295.2 mm, recorded only 194.3 mm.
However, quite a few districts in the state saw good rainfall during this period. Nilagiri recorded 63% more receiving 659.2 mm rainfall as opposed to its normal levels of 403.2 mm, Ramanathapuram recorded 48% more with 575 mm of rainfall as opposed to 388.5 mm. Thirunelveli recorded 38% more with 509.3 mm rainfall against its normal recording of 368.6 mm.
As for Chennai, it recorded a deficit of 30%, receiving only 417 mm rainfall against 596.9 mm during this period. However, as of 6.00 am on Sunday, Sholinganallur in Chennai has recorded the highest amount of rainfall at 112 mm.
Chennai rainfall data till 6 am in the morning. pic.twitter.com/4wwZ5G4H6e
— South Region, Greater Chennai Corporation (@rdc_south) December 1, 2019
Waterlogging
After the heavy rainfall, many streets and roads in the city were waterlogged on Saturday. According to The Hindu, the Chennai Corporation received most of the complaints related to waterlogging from zones such as Adyar, Perungudi and Sholinganallur. TOI reports that the rains affected traffic movement in areas like Nungambakkam, T Nagar and Anna Nagar.
Several other places in the state too recorded flooding on the roads. Thoothukudi district experienced inundation in many of its areas on Saturday due to heavy rains.
Commercial streets at Sathankulam in #Thoothukudi district flooded following heavy downpour. Ppl had to wade through waters flowing to their hip level. pic.twitter.com/nk8xGSiFUC
— Godson Wisely Dass (@tnie_godson) November 30, 2019
தூத்துக்குடி மாவட்டம் சாத்தான்குளம் வெள்ளப்பெருக்கு pic.twitter.com/wsMre8cn9k
— αηιтнαѕιναкυмαя (@anithasivakum83) December 1, 2019
Greater Chennai Corporation has put out the following control room numbers to report waterlogging - 044 25384520, 044 25384530, 044 25384540 and WhatsApp on 9445477205.