CHENNAI: If the weatherman can be trusted, the worst is over. With Cyclone Michaung moving away from Chennai, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that only light to moderate rain with thunderstorm and lightning at a few places will occur over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on Tuesday. Heavy rain is likely to occur at one or two places over Tiruvallur and Ranipet districts, the met department said.
As the rain eases, the city will be able to recover from Monday’s downpour. Residents in many parts of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram woke up to a world of water on Monday, that brought back the worst memories of 2015.
As per IMD data, the Nungambakkam weather station in the city recorded 21 cm and Meenambakkam 25 cm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday. From 8.30 am to 5.30 pm, both stations received another 20 cm and 17.4 cm respectively. On December 1, 2015, these stations had recorded 29.4 cm and 34.5 cm in 24 hours.
Besides, these two weather stations, which account for Chennai rains statistically, other parts of the city received much higher rainfall. For instance, Chennai corporation’s data showed that Perungudi received 43.2 cm of rainfall from 6 am to 3 pm on Monday.
Cyclone to make landfall near AP’s Bapatla today
As of Monday night, cyclonic storm Michaung was 50 km southeast of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and 130 km north-northeast of Chennai. IT is likely to move close to south Andhra coast and cross the south Andhra coast between Nellore and Machilipatnam, close to Bapatla during forenoon of Tuesday as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.
As the storm moves away from Chennai, rainfall over the city and its surrounding districts is likely to gradually decrease giving much-needed relief. This will also allow the city rivers to discharge more flood waters into the sea.