Even as Chennai was recovering from the impact of 30 cm of rain on Thursday night, the downpour that began on Friday evening made life difficult for people living in low-lying areas.
Chennai's Nungambakkam's weather station recorded 65.8 mm rain till 8.30 am on Saturday while Meenambakkam, which is near the airport, received 62 mm.
The showers have been attributed to a low-pressure area that lies over Southwest Bay of Bengal off the Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu coast and extends up to 3.1km above the mean sea level. The weathermen have predicted that heavy rainfall is expected to continue over Chennai and its adjoining areas for at least two to three days.
The death toll due to rain-related incidents mounted to 14 as on Friday evening. Schools and colleges were remaining shut for the fifth successive day on Saturday in Chennai and its adjoining districts.
With the heavy rain continuing to lash on Saturday, the situation has become, particularly, worse in South Chennai and its suburbs where the overflowing lakes flooded those localities. Several parts of the southern suburbs from Velacherry to Tambaram face a flood-like situation.
In Mudichur and Varadharajapuram, several residents were seen leaving their homes to the relatives and friends places for safety as the continuing rain increasing the flood water level. "In the 2015 floods, the water entered the first floors in our localities. It is still fresh in our minds. As the rain continuing for the sixth day, the water level will increase anytime," said K Saravanan of Rayappa Nagar in Mudichur.
Heavy rains did not spare the core city areas as well. Low-lying upscale areas like Boat Club and RA Puram were inundated. Parts of Pudupet, Egmore, Choolai, Vysarpadi, Pattalam, Tondiarpet, RK Nagar and Anna Nagar West were also batting inundation.
Chennai Corporation commissioner D Karthikeyan assured that the civic body was prepared to face the monsoon and all the men and material are in place to provide relief at the earliest from rains.
With the active North East Monsoon, the drought hit Cauvery delta districts - Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur - was battered by incessant rains on Friday night. Talaignayar and Tirupoondi in Nagapattinam recorded 27 cm and 24 cm rains respectively till Saturday morning. Apart from the flooding of the houses, over 1500 hectares of paddy crops were destroyed.
Tamil Nadu government continued to maintain there was no reason to panic. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami visited flood-affected areas on Friday and assured that all the steps were taken to ensure that floodwaters drain at the earliest. He also claimed that his government had handled the flood situation better than Bengaluru and Mumbai.
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