Rain batters Chennai, parts of Tamil Nadu: Normal life hit
CHENNAI: Normal life was affected and several areas inundated as heavy rain lashed Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu and the Union territory of Puducherry on Tuesday.
The heavy downpour has affected vehicular and air traffic and also the train movements.
Southern Railway cancelled around 11 trains on Beach-Tambaram routes.
A large number of trains on the Chennai-Tiruvallur route are being operated only up to Avadi. A railway official said that trains were being operated at restricted speed. “This is causing delays,” he added.
Suburban train services were hit due to waterlogging on the tracks at several places.
Most of the services were running late while a few trains could be operated only up to Pallavaram due to waterlogging on the tracks between Pallavaram and Tambaram stations, said a railway official.
Waterlogging on tracks was reported from Chengalpet too.
Tiruvallur-Chennai suburban trains and Gummidipoondi -Chennai suburban trains were running late because they were being operated at a restricted speed. Several flights suffered minor delays.
Heavy downpour has also affected the air traffic, with a number of flights getting delayed.
Around 10 flights to Chennai were delayed by an hour while a Colombo-Chennai Mihin Lanka flight was diverted back to Colombo because of heavy rain in Chennai. As arrivals were delayed, around 10 departures suffered one hour to two hours delays since 9am.
IT companies on the OMR, in Mahindra World City and other places have asked employees to leave offices early on Tuesday.
Schools and colleges remained closed in six districts in Tamil Nadu and in Puducherry. Schools in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts will remain closed on Wednesday too.
Chief minister J Jayalalithaa held a meeting with her cabinet colleagues and secretaries to review the situation.
Several areas in Chennai were waterlogged affecting vehicular traffic in the city.
There seems to be no immediate relief in sight with the Met department predicting that heavy rain will continue across Tamil Nadu for the next four days due to a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.
“Heavy rain would occur over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram districts. Heavy rain would occur at a few places with isolated heavy to very heavy rain over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next few days,” said the Met department.
