Traffic crawls through battered, flooded Chennai roads

After overnight rains, Chennaiites woke up to severe traffic snarls on waterlogged roads in Adyar, Ambattur and Kodambakkam.

A Youngster races his bike as heavy rain pours out near Marina on Wednesday. (Ashwin Prasath | EPS)

CHENNAI: After overnight rains, Chennaiites woke up to severe traffic snarls on waterlogged roads in Adyar, Ambattur and Kodambakkam on Wednesday morning.

Vehicles had to wade through water up to one feet high on

Chennai-Tiruvallur High Road stretch near Padi. Vehicular movement along the Jawaharlal Nehru Road connecting Ashok Nagar, Vadapalani with Koyambedu was almost brought to a standstill for about 30 minutes during the peak hours. "Riding along this road was dreadful - traffic here already faces several hindrances due to the metro rail

construction, which got worsened by waterlogging,” said S Rinesh, a medical representative.

Waterlogging in low lying areas adjacent to Ambattur and

Anna Nagar caused inconvenience to office goers and school students, as Corporation had begun the clearing works late. There was no one from the Corporation before 9.30 am, when traffic choked the roads, said S Anand, a resident of Anna Nagar.

However, a senior official from the Corporation said waterlogging was lesser this year compared to the North East monsoon showers last year. "Most storm water drains were desilted as a part of the pre-monsoon preparedness," the official told Express, adding that there were no

major traffic snarls in the city because of this.

In addition to waterlogging, uprooted trees were a reason for traffic jams along busy roads in Alandur and Velachery. Over 15 trees were been uprooted due to the incessant showers.

In Ram Nagar, it almost took an hour for the Corporation authorities to cut down a broken tree, said locals.

Chennai received more than 30 mm rain in the last 24 hours including 3 mm between 8.30 am to 11.30 am on Wednesday. Mild showers are expected to continue for the next two days.