After heavy rains swept through Chennai, weather experts suggest the worst may now be over, despite earlier forecasts of worsening conditions.
This comes after heavy rain continued to lash Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, bringing residential neighborhoods and roads under knee-deep water and leading to traffic congestion besides affecting public transport services.
However, the rains were likely to recede and conditions were expected to improve by Wednesday, despite the IMD reporting that a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had intensified into a depression on Tuesday evening, expected to cross the coast near Chennai on the morning of October 17.
Weather experts believe the depression is expected to cross the North Tamil Nadu-South Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday morning, with the heaviest rains likely between Chennai and Nellore today.
"Though the Depression is expected to cross over Chennai, the convergence of winds will be north of the crossing area so people of Chennai can relax a bit. The extreme rains today from the main Depression is not going happen for us. Normal rains may happen !! As we can see the convergence has shifted to south Andhra," wrote Pradeep John, who goes by the moniker 'Tamil Nadu Weatherman' on social media.
Srikanth, one of Chennai's prominent weather bloggers, says Chennai and surrounding KTC (Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpet) districts may experience moderate to heavy rainfall throughout the day.
"Depression currently seen East of Pondicherry moving in a NW direction. As it moves further North Rains to reduce over coastal TamilNadu. While Chennai should remain cautious a repeat of yesterday's intense ChennaiRains is less likely," he posted on X.
He added that while the heaviest rains from the depression might have subsided, the North-East Monsoon season had just begun, and coastal Tamil Nadu was expected to continue experiencing widespread rains as a fresh low-pressure area was likely to develop over the Arabian Sea in the next 2-3 days, strengthening easterly winds.
Earlier, an IMD bulletin said that on October 16, "heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy rain at one or two places is likely to occur over Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Chennai districts."
In the wake of the forecast, the government declared October 16 a holiday for schools, colleges and government offices, barring essential services, covering districts including Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengelpet.