Heavy rains continue to batter Tamil Nadu

Chennai Collector issues flood warning and appealed to families living along Adyar river to move to safer places.

Chennai City seems to he heading for a crisis of sorts as the government has started releasing 20,000 cubic feet per second of water Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adyar. This is the highest volume of outflow from the reservoir in several years. On November 17, a day after the city received over 25 centimetres of rainfall, Public Works Department released 18,000 cusecs of water from the reservoir.

Chennai Collector E.Sundaravalli issued a flood warning and appealed to families living along Adyar river to move to safer places. Earlier in the day, it was increased to 5,000 cubic feet per second. The outflow was just 900 cusecs on Monday evening.

After pounding and battering the city for a month, heavy rains resumed overnight on Monday after a brief break for four days. For the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday, the rainfall level recorded in the city was 3 three centimetres. Between morning and noon, the city received more than 8 centimetres, officials said.

Suburban train services on the Chennai Beach — Tambaram sector were crippled. Services on the Chennai Central — Tiruvallur sector were also disrupted. Arterial roads were flooded and traffic was affected.

PTI reports