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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 from 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

Heavy rains lash parts of TN

Heavy rains on Tuesday lashed parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and neighbouring Puducherry, disrupting flight movement and leaving several areas inundated.

The picture looks no better for Wednesday with the weather office forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall for Tamil Nadu, especially over the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.

It also forecast heavy rains for Puducherry.

“The trough of low pressure now lies over Southwest Bay adjoining Sri Lanka off Tamil Nadu,” officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) told PTI.

Under its influence, widespread rains are expected across the state on Wednesday, with the possibility of “scattered heavy to isolated very heavy rainfall over coastal districts,” they said.

The weather office forecast “isolated extremely heavy rainfall” for Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur which have been already been facing the brunt of the northeast monsoon since last month.

A holiday has been declared on Tuesday for educational institutions in these districts, which have been experiencing heavy downpour, officials said.

In Chennai, office-goers found it tough to make it to their workplaces on time with the incessant rains resulting in water-logging in several areas. Many of them opted to travel by state government buses, suburban train services and Metro Rail.

Most roads were left in a damaged state, with motorists finding it hard to negotiate potholes.

At Adyar, a part of the road near the Madhya Kailash intersection had caved in on Monday, prompting authorities to redirect traffic on the busy stretch.

Flight operations also took a hit due to the inclement weather. Airport officials said one flight, which left Colombo this morning, returned.

Puducherry, which was pounded by rains since last night recorded 15.2 cm rain in the last 24 hours ending 0830 today, disrupting normal life. A holiday was declared for educational institutions.