Monsoon sets in, two electrocuted

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Chennai roads flooded, traffic hit Rain to continue The southwest Bay of Bengal has a trough of low pressure due to which coastal regions in TN will continue to receive heavy rainfall, said Area Cyclone Warning Centre director Dr S.R. Ramanan.

Torrential rain and thunder heralded the onset of northeast monsoon in Chennai on Thursday even as several western and southern districts in Tamil Nadu have been experiencing good rainfall for the last few days. The sudden downpour also claimed two lives in the city. Two persons were electrocuted after they stepped into pools of rain water in contact with live underground cables.

With southwest monsoon withdrawing from the country on Thursday, officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai said it would take a couple of days to formally announce the arrival of northeast monsoon. But flooded Chennai roads bore testimony to the arrival of the monsoon. The roads in Madhavaram, Perambur, Pulianthope, Ayanavaram, Choolaimedu, Mambalam, Kandanchavady, Ullagaram, Puzhudivakkam, Nanganallur, Koyambedu and OMR were seen flooded with rainwater. With heavy rains in the morning suburban train services between Tiruvallur and Chennai Central were affected.

“Several trains went behind schedule. I struggled to keep my appointment at Kellys at 10 am,“ said Ravi Kumar, who commutes by train daily. The traffic kept moving at a snail's pace and metro rail work added to the rain woes. Exposing the monsoon unpreparedness of civic authorities, traffic once again came to a standstill in several parts of the city on Thursday with arterial roads getting flooded.

Lack of stormwater drains (SWDs), non-clearance of existing drains besides poor planning have proved to be costly for city residents with most roads and interior streets being water-logged. The city roads were chaotic with vehicles queuing up for several kilometres and children in uniform stumbling in potholes.

Thursday morning greeted the city with inundated roads and floating garbage.

A traffic alert SMS from traffic police forewarning subscribers about traffic disruptions at various places.

The message went as follows: “Due to rain water stagnation at Vyasarpadi subway, Ganesapuram subway, Poonamalle H. Road, Whites Road, Pattullos Road, Mi llers Road, Santhome High Road, Greenways Road, Teynampet, and Vadapalani Vijaya Hospital point, vehicles are moving slowly.“

Traffic was also hit on Koyambedu 100 Feet Road, GST road, MTH road, Choolai High Road, Collector Office Road, and Mudichur Road, holding up vehicles by several hours. Motorists and bus commuters reached their destinations much later than usual.

“It took two hours to reach Koyambedu from Guindy, a distance of 5-km. It is common knowledge that inundation occurs. But SWDs for the entire city still remain a distant dream,” complained Mr Ragahvan from Nanganallur.

North Chennai Exnora activist Mr Ramadoss said the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities was the major cause for water logging.

Substantial rain for the last two days Over 80% of coastal areas in TN and about 60% in interiors of the state experienced substantial rainfall for the last two days Tamil Nadu received 23% excess rainfall from last year's north east monsoon.