Welcome rains lashed most parts of Chennai on Thursday afternoon, bringing much needed respite to the city’s residents. In a number of places, the weather went from hot and sunny to a thunderstorm in a matter of 10 minutes. The weatherman says the rains may continue on Friday, but not beyond that.
“The rains we have seen on Thursday are mainly due to cyclonic circulations over the Bay of Bengal in the upper levels of the atmosphere. There has been cloud cover over Chennai ever since the Southwest Monsoon set over Kerala due to various factors,” said YEA Raj, Deputy Director of Meteorology at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai.
“The rains are likely to continue on Friday in Chennai and other districts near it, such as Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Villupuram and Cuddalore. There is no indication of continuation of rains after that. But sporadic rains and thundershowers could occur over different parts of Tamil Nadu,” Raj added.
Rainwater enters terminal again
More water woes plague the new terminal at the Chennai international airport. Water seeped in near the boarding gates, bus lounge and security hold area of the new domestic terminal when it rained heavily Thursday afternoon.
Meenambakkam recorded 26.4 mm rainfall. Sources said that rainwater had made its way into the first floor as well, indicating that there may be openings in the roof. Strong winds blew water into the first floor departure area off the canopy. The underside of the canopy was wet and water seeped into the building through small opening on the roof. Sources said the incline of the platform outside boarding gates causes water to seep into the carpeted boarding area in the departure hall. Meanwhile, the rough weather forced a Sri Lankan Airways flight with 144 passengers from Colombo to be diverted to Bangalore.
