CHENNAI: Heavy rains continue to lash Chennai leaving people stranded in several places and throwing normal life out of gear.
The rain has caught the meteorological department and independent weathermen unawares. Pradeep John, a self-taught weatherman, who identifies himself as Tamil Nadu Weatherman apologized for failing to predict these rains.
"I want to apologize to you all, for missing to forewarn such an event to you. This has never happened in the 15 years and has caught us all by surprise. We have seen 5 mm forecast giving 50 mm rains but not 200 mm rains," he tweeted.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also said that the rainfall received by the city was more than they had predicted.
Late in the evening, the IMD issued a red alert for Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpett districts.
With low-lying areas in the city going under water, four subways have been closed for traffic. The Gengu Reddy subway in Egmore, Madley subway in West Mambalam, Aranganathan subway in Saidapet and RBI subway were closed for traffic, sources said.
The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) decided to extend Metro Train Services by 1 hour from 11:00 pm to 12:00 am today (30-12-2021). The last Metro Train will leave all terminals at 12:00 am. This is to enable passengers to reach their homes safely.
Revenue and Disaster Management minister KKSSR Ramachandran said that three electrocution deaths have been reported from the city so far.
In one incident, a woman was electrocuted in Pulianthope due to the rains. According to reports, a 45-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh was about to step out of her house to go to a shop on Thursday evening when she touched the grill gate of her house and was electrocuted.
Social media users posted videos of a portion of a roof falling in VR Mall in Anna Nagar due to heavy rains.
The amount of rainfall received till 6.00 pm (all in mm's): Mylapore - 207, MRC Nagar - 175, Nungambakkam - 140, Alwarpet - 133, Nandanam - 100, Meenambakkam - 98, Valsarawakkam - 94, ACS Medical College (Vanagaram) - 87, Chembarabakkam - 82, Anna University (Guindy) - 81, Tondairpet - 72 and Moggapair - 71.