Chennai roads inundated as cyclone Nivar triggers intermittent rain

Chennai: Several roads and intersections witnessed traffic congestion and waterlogging here on Tuesday as a result of the intermittent rains influenced by the cyclonic storm 'Nivar.'

The government, meanwhile, said following better storage in city's reservoirs, drinking water supply in the metropolis is set to be increased effective Wednesday.

Anna Salai, GST Road and Kathipara junction were among the locations that witnessed traffic snarls and several places came under sheets of water and vehicles moved at a slow pace.

While social media users shared videos of flooded roads like the Tiru-Vi-Ka Salai and Wall Tax Road, stagnant rain water at locations including the Kathipara point was pumped out by Chennai Corporation workers and they also removed 90 uprooted trees.

Police teams patrolled the city roads and people who turned up at the popular city and suburban beaches like the Marina and Neelangarai were dispersed by police personnel.

Meanwhile, Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani visited the Greater Chennai Corporation's control room at the Rippon Building headquartes for a review meet and flagged off a 'Mobile Command and Control Centre' van as part of measures to tackle the situation.

Speaking to reporters, Velumani said 15 IAS officials have been specially assigned to monitor all the 15 zones of the Chennai corporation and 176 relief centres would be operated.

Water stagnation was witnessed in five locations alone and in view of coordinated action between departments and storm water drain infrastructure waterlogging receded quickly, he said.

"There is no water stagnation in any of the subways. You can see this from our Command and Control Centre. There may be some waterlogging in low lying areas and this is being drained," he told reporters.

Till date, from October 28 when the Northeast monsoon set in, the city has received 38.7 cm rain. Overall, in the past about 24 hours, the city has received 5.9 cm rainfall, he said.

In view of better storage in the city's reservoirs, drinking water supply would be increased to 830 MLD from about 750 MLD effective Wednesday, he said.

In Chembarambakkam reservoir, out of the current storage of about 80 per cent, a greater share of the inflow was from Krishna River, the Minister said, indicating that the increased storage was not due to the current spell of rain alone.

The Command and Control Centre at the Corporation's headquarters continuously monintored the situation on ground on a real time basis and other agencies like the Public Works Department were being alterted immediately on relevant matter including clearing waterlogging, he said.

In as many as 109 locations, boats have been kept ready to help evacuate people and health units are ready as well including mobile vans, he added.

Overall, the rainfall ranged between one cm to nine cm on Tuesday in the state, Regional Meteorological department said, adding Tambaram in Chengelpet district, which is also a city suburb received nine cm rainfall, the highest.

Several other parts of the state, including Nagapattinam, Sriperumbudur (Kancheepuram), Sholinganallur (Chennai), Tiruporur (Chengelpet) received one cm rainfall each.