Date:23/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/23/stories/2007082360100300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

City gets drenched in heavy rain

Staff Reporter

Rainwater drains quickly in most areas; cloudy skies with a shower or two predicted for today

— Photo: R. Ragu

PLOUGHING THROUGH: A rickshaw-driver makes his way amidst motor vehicles on a flooded Poonamallee High Road on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: The heavy downpour that lashed the city and its suburbs for over two hours on Wednesday was like a preview of the monsoon.

The onset of the northeast monsoon is almost two months away but residents of the city and its suburbs have raincoats, umbrellas and other wet weather gear ready for use.

Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre S. R. Ramanan said that the rain was a convective land-based activity from the northwesterly direction.

The rainfall recorded in Nungambakkam was 32.7 mm and in Meenabakkam 14.3 mm. The forecast for Thursday predicts cloudy skies with a shower or two.

Inundated roads

Several roads and subways were inundated by the pouring rain that lasted for two hours beginning 1.30 p.m. Water stagnanted along a stretch near the Egmore-Poonamallee High Road junction but drained off by the evening. Several two-wheeler riders took cover under bus shelters and tea-shops, as the thunder-accompanied downpour made riding difficult.

Some mopeds and scooters broke down when navigating flooded areas such as the Pycrofts Road – Bharathi Salai junction, opposite Citi Centre on R.K. Salai, near the Chintadripet fish market and Bazullah Road in T. Nagar.

Traffic turned sluggish in several parts of North Chennai.