Cyclone Ditwah: Heavy rain inundates roads, highways in Chennai, neighbourhood

Chennai and its nearby districts continued to receive steady downpour on Monday due to the remnants of the now weakened Cyclone Ditwah, leading to inundation of roads, highways and low-lying areas, including some residential localities.

Moderate to heavy rain lashed Chennai, marooning AGS colony in Velachery here. A car sank in the city and a government bus was stranded due to sudden inundation in Poonamallee.

Traffic snarls were witnessed in many parts, including the Kathipara flyover in the city.

The weather office forecast heavy to very heavy rain in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts till Tuesday morning due to the remnants of the cyclonic storm Ditwah that remained close to Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts.

Expressing concern over the sufferings of farmers in the Cauvery delta districts where heavy downpour ravaged the crops, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said he has ordered immediate compensation from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the loss of agricultural crops including paddy, loss of human lives and livestock and damage to houses during the northeast monsoon starting from October.

“I am directly monitoring the work to drain rainwater in all the flood-affected areas. Our government will provide all basic facilities to the people staying in the relief camps for as long as needed and will protect them,” the chief minister said in a post on ‘X.’

Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, accompanied by state Hindu Religious and Charitable and Endowments Department Minister P K Sekar Babu, Chennai Mayor R Priya and officials inspected rain related relief work in the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Integrated Command and Control Centre.

Officials said prompt action to bail out water ensured the 22 subways in Chennai were free from stagnation. Special medical camps were held in the GCC areas. Heavy duty motor pumps and “super sucker trucks” were used to drain water and in total, 1,496 motor pumps were on standby. As many as 22,000 personnel including engineers and officials have been deployed, an official said.

A car got trapped in stagnant rainwater on the Poonamallee highway in Tiruvallur near Velappanchavadi causing the vehicle to sink. The driver managed to escape on time.

An official said the sudden inundation and some potholes in the service road could have caused the vehicle to sink.

A bus that got stranded in Poonamallee due to heavy inundation was tugged to safety with the help of a JCB machine.

Meanwhile, the Central Water Commission issued a flood warning for the city due to significant inflows expected in rivers Adyar, Kosasthalaiyar, Araniar in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, and Chennai districts.

“Due to persistent very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, local inundation is expected in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts. Significant inflows are expected in Chembarambakkam, Poondi and in other Chennai city projects (that meet the city’s drinking water needs),” it said on ‘X.’   With the deep depression continuing to persist over the sea, east of Chennai leading to steady downpour, the Chennai Airport authorities cancelled ten flights from here.

As spells of rain continued throughout the day, the Greater Chennai Corporation said it has kept 103 boats on standby to be used in rescue operations in low-lying areas in case of any emergency. About 60 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 30 from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were on standby.

Around 20 trees that fell or were uprooted due to the cyclone in Chennai from November 29 till today were removed. A total of 32,500 people were provided food on November 30, while another 83,600 people were served food today, a release from the GCC said.

The civic body has stocked one lakh packets of Aavin milk powder, 5 kg rice, 1 kg dal and 1 litre palm oil to be distributed to the elderly and children affected by the rain.

Ennore in Chennai received the maximum rainfall of 12.99 cm while Utthandi registered the minimum of 0.48 cm. The city received an average of 6.83 cm of rainfall from 8.30 am to 2 pm Monday.

Anticipating a heavy spell, several schools in Chennai and neighbouring districts, including Chengalpattu, have announced holiday for Tuesday.

“The deep depression (remnant of cyclonic storm Ditwah) over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of west central Bay of Bengal, North Tamil Nadu-Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh coasts is very likely to move slowly northwards parallel to north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts and maintain the intensity of deep depression till evening. Thereafter it is very likely to weaken into a depression during the subsequent 12 hours,” the IMD said.

Private weather bloggers claimed that rain intensity was likely to pick up in Chennai as the intense rain bands were moving into the city from the north. The cloud mass was now closer to the TN coast, with the bulk of cold tops brushing towards the Chennai belt.