StatesTamil Nadu
Rain shuts schools in Chennai and three neighbouring districts as low pressure builds off Tamil Nadu coast
Showers have lashed the city since Tuesday evening under a vigorous northeast monsoon, and the Met office expects heavy to very heavy rain in ten coastal districts over the next 48 hours.
Key points
- Schools were closed in Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu on Wednesday.
- A low-pressure area is likely to form over the southwest Bay of Bengal within about 24 hours.
- Chief Minister Vijay ordered ₹21.80 crore of road patch work across Chennai.
Heavy rain kept schools shut in Chennai and three neighbouring districts on Wednesday, and forecasters warned that more is on the way as a low-pressure system takes shape off the Tamil Nadu coast.
Showers have fallen on the capital and its surroundings since Tuesday evening, with the northeast monsoon now vigorous over the state. Schools in Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts stayed closed for the day.
What the Met office expects
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai said a low-pressure area was likely to form over the southwest Bay of Bengal, close to the Tamil Nadu coast, within about 24 hours. Heavy to very heavy rain is likely at isolated places in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Ramanathapuram districts, as well as Puducherry and Karaikal. The department expects further downpours over the next 48 hours.
Patching the roads
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has directed road patch work across the Greater Chennai Corporation’s area, at an estimated cost of ₹21.80 crore. Crews are working through zones 1 to 15 with concrete and tar mixtures to fill potholes.
The corporation handed out 6,000 food packets to rain-hit residents in Virugambakkam on Wednesday morning.
Chennai’s low-lying neighbourhoods flood regularly in the northeast monsoon season, which runs from October to December. Vijay had ordered checks on flood-prone streets at the weekend, when the monsoon first turned active over the city.