Chennai

Rain gods add to gloom to the city

A gloomy, overcast sky greeted residents of the city on the last weekend of the year, as a low pressure area brought much-needed rain to northern parts of Tamil Nadu.

Susanna Myrtle Lazarus

A gloomy, overcast sky greeted residents of the city on the last weekend of the year, as a low pressure area brought much-needed rain to northern parts of Tamil Nadu. Showers can be expected till Sunday, said Y E A Raj, deputy director general of Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.

While heavy rain was restricted to areas beyond the airport and in the suburbs, there was a slow, steady drizzle throughout the day in the city. The Nungambakkam observatory recorded around 2 cm precipitation till 8.30 am on Saturday. However, there was no flooding. Traffic movement was not affected in a big way as fewer vehicles were on the roads because of the weekend.

As an index of the Mozart of Madras A R Rahman’s capacity to keep listeners captivated, fans stayed put though the skies opened up at a concert at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam on Saturday night.

The Met office attributed the rainfall to a trough that extends from south west to west central Bay of Bengal across Sri Lanka and off the coast of TN and south AP.

“The rain will be slightly more on Sunday than on Saturday,” Raj added.

That’s bad news for cricket fans because the first cricket ODI between India and Pakistan is to be held here on Sunday. Also, some of the Chennai Open qualifier matches are scheduled for the morrow.

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