The rigorous northeast monsoon is expected to bring more rains in the coming days to Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the monsoon is very severe over Tamil Nadu and will bring heavy rains to Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chennai.
The weather bulletin from the IMD said that the “depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards and lay centred over the same region near latitude 12.3° N and longitude 83.0° E, about 320 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu), 350 km east-northeast of Puducherry and 400 km southeast of Nellore (Andhra Pradesh). It is likely to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu - South Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Nellore, close to Chennai during the early morning of 17th October.”
However, the red alert is still maintained by the IMD as the depression still lies centred over the Bay of Bengal. The regional meteorological department has said that one or two places in Chennai, Chengalpet and Ranipet will receive heavy to very heavy rains in the next 24 hours.
The IMD’s forecast for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the next seven days said that there will be light to moderate rain in many places over north Tamil Nadu and at one or two places over south Tamil Nadu with thunderstorms and lightning. For the next 24-hours, the sky is likely to be generally cloudy and the temperature is likely to be around 26-27 degree celsius.
Since the depression is lying centred over the sea, coastal regions of Andhra will receive very heavy rains. "From 1st October till now, recorded rainfall is 138 mm,” said S Balachandran, Director of Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre. The depression, he said, is moving towards the west -northwest direction approaching the north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh. The depression is expected to cross between Nellore and Puducherry near Chennai.
In the last 24 hours, atleast 5 places in TamilNadu recorded extremely heavy rainfall, while 48 places recorded very heavy rainfall. Meanwhile many of the low lying areas in Chennai, including parts of north Chennai are still inundated in water, while the corporation authorities are carrying out restoration work. Many parts of north Chennai including places like Pattalam, Vyasarpadi, Perambur, Choolai, Pulianthope, Purasawalkam, and Mullai Nagar were waterlogged. The city had witnessed slightly over 13 cm rainfall on Tuesday.
“The government has been working for the past three months preparing to face the northeast monsoon. We had appointed a committee headed by retired bureaucrat Thiruppugazh to work on the stormwater drains immediately after we came to power. We will soon find a permanent solution to end water logging,” Chief Minister MK Stalin said.