Waterlogged Chennai to receive more rain, raising fears of floods
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Although residents of Chennai face some relief with lower intensity rainfall predicted for the next 48 hours, the capital city of Tamil Nadu has recorded it's highest amount of rainfall in a single day over the weekend, raising fears of flooding harking back to the 2015 Chennai floods. The Greater Chennai Corporation received 2,674 rain-related complaints till 8am on Monday. A total of 164 locations in the city were inundated as of 8 am.
On Sunday, many parts of the city were waterlogged with the Director-General of Police's office recording 230 mm of rain. Nungambakkam received rainfall of 215 mm, and Chennai airport 113 mm from 8.30 AM on Saturday to 8.30 AM on Sunday. A low pressure system is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal around November 9 which is likely to bring more rainfall to the city and many districts in the state. Rainfall has lessened in intensity on Monday with the Nungambakkam station recording just above 63mm of rain.
Chief Minister Stalin visited areas in North Chennai to review the flood situation along with the Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner (GCP) Gagandeep Singh Bedi. Chennai MLAs have been directed to visit their constituencies to do the same. State Health Minister M A Subramanian was seen at his Saidapet constituency earlier today.
Following rain in the catchment areas leading to heavy inflows, the State Government gradually began releasing surplus water from reservoirs around Chennai On Sunday, including Poondi and Chembarambakkam to avoid a repeat of the events at 2015 where the dam was not opened in time. The Tiruvallur Collectorate announced earlier today that 3,000 cubic feet per second of water will be released from Poondi reservoir from 09:00 am onwards. Similarly 1,000 cubic feet per second of water is to be released from Puzhal Lake. 500 cubic feet per second will be released from Chembarambakkam Lake this afternoon from 1:30pm onwards.
Four teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Madurai and Changalpet and are working with the police force to rescue civilians said CM Stalin on Sunday.