6 cm of Rain in an Hour Leaves Chennai Marooned

From Koyambedu, Anna Nagar and Mogappair to the bustling T Nagar, Nungambakkam and Chetpet, roads saw water levels rising.

CHENNAI: As much as 61.8 mm of rainfall lashed the city by 2 pm on Saturday, with the downpour, spread over an hour or so, submerging almost every major road and bringing traffic to a grinding halt. The flooding following the downpour threw the city out of gear for hours.

From Koyambedu, Anna Nagar and Mogappair to the bustling T Nagar, Nungambakkam and Chetpet, roads saw water levels rising — sometimes to as much as knee height. Many bikes were forced to stop as engines stalled and traffic snarls extended for kilometers.

Delays lasted over an hour for most. “It took me over one hour to travel a 3-km stretch in T Nagar,” said Shabir Ahmed, a commuter. Most of the roads which saw flooding were the ones that were relaid recently.

Chennai Corporation’s Storm Water Drain department put the blame entirely on the intensity of the rainfall and the short duration in which it hit the city.

In a bizarre counterpoint, the Meteorological Department pooh-poohed the statement on how intense the rains were. “This was nothing,” said deputy director general of meteorology S B Thampi. 

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The New Indian Express
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