As TN braces for NE monsoon, red alert for Chennai; schools and colleges closed today
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai issued an orange alert for nine districts, including Villupuram, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam for Monday and Tuesday
Tamil Nadu is bracing for the northeast monsoon, which is likely to make its onset on Tuesday. A red alert has been issued for Chennai and its surrounding districts for October 16. The northeast monsoon brings an average of 45cm rain to Tamil Nadu, which is 48% of its annual rainfall, and average of 87cm to Chennai, 63% of the annual rainfall for the capital city.
In view of the heavy rains that have been forecast, the DMK-led state government on Monday announced a holiday for schools and colleges in four districts, Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, on Tuesday. Chief minister MK Stalin also instructed authorities to issue an advisory to IT employees in companies across the four districts to work from home from Tuesday to Friday.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai issued an orange alert for nine districts, including Villupuram, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam for Monday and Tuesday. A red alert has been issued in nine districts, including Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Villupuram, on Wednesday, forecasting heavy rains.
The heavy rainfall is due to a low pressure that has formed “under the influence of an upper air cyclonic circulation over southeast Bay of Bengal” on Monday, the RMC said. “It is likely to become a well-marked low-pressure area and move west-north westwards towards north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next two days,” the RMC said. They have forecast heavy rains to continue till Thursday. Another weather system, a cyclonic circulation off coastal Andhra Pradesh and a depression over the Arabian sea, also persists to bring rainfall to Tamil Nadu, said P Senthamarai Kannan, deputy director general of RMC.
Stalin held a review meeting on Monday. “Rescue boats should be deployed in flood-prone areas today. District monitoring officers should immediately carry out the preparatory work, including relief and rehabilitation in coordination with the district administration,” Stalin said. He appointed an IAS officer each for the 15 zones of Chennai to monitor relief and rescue. Deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi, oversaw the control centre operations at the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) a day ago. “Based on weather predictions indicating extremely heavy rainfall in the coming days, with up to 20cm of rain in a single day, the government has taken all necessary preparatory measures,” Udhayanidhi said after his inspection.
The GCC said in a statement that they have readied 990 pumps, 57 tractors equipped with pump sets, and 36 mechanised boats to be used in case of any emergency.
Residents in Chennai have been worried as several interior roads have been dug up for work to provide stormwater drains, but it has not been completed in several localities and the arterial roads have been affected by work for the ongoing Metro rail project. Anticipating flooding, residents of Velachery, which is a low-lying area and is prone to floods, parked their cars on the Velachery flyover as their vehicles has submerged during the northeast monsoons in the past. The GCC has set up a relief centre in each of the 200 wards of Chennai and more than 10,000 volunteers have been roped in.
