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Chennai wakes up to moderate showers and cool breeze, residents celebrate on Twitter
Twitter users from Chennai shared images of the rainfall and cloudy skies as #ChennaiRains trended on the platform.
Residents of Chennai and nearby districts on Tuesday woke up to a cool morning following moderate and light showers as roads in several areas of the state capital of Tamil Nadu were waterlogged. Twitter users from Chennai shared images of the rainfall and cloudy skies as #ChennaiRains trended on the platform.
Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai has forecast that the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy in Chennai city. Light to moderate rain or thundershower is likely in some areas, it said. Observation stations at Chennai Nungambakkam and Chennai Airport have recorded a rainfall of 26.6mm and 0.3mm respectively.
Pradeep John, a private weather blogger, tweeted “Magical morning to wake up in Chennai. This is not stratiform bands. Good intense bands seen might give good rains and may last a while.” Chennai Weather Update, another Twitter handle that tweets about the city’s weather, said, “First proper NEM spell on the way for #Chennai. Get ready folks..”
While people working from homes were delighted by the scenes outside their window, waterlogged roads and congestion in regular traffic movements were also reported from multiple locations. Tamil television news channel reported that thundershower lashed several parts of Chennai and Chengalpet as Anna Salai, Guindy, Vadapalani, Ekkatuthangal, including other parts, received heavy downpour. There were reports of water clogged roads in Vadapalani, Nungambakkam, Guindy, Koyambedu, Nandanam, Chepauk and Triplicane areas.
IMD has also predicted a near normal to above normal seasonal rainfall during the October to December season for Chennai. An above normal rainfall prediction has also caused concerns for people of Chennai who remember the devastating floods in December 2015.
Parliament committee report on the floods estimated the damage as follows - “Approximately 470 people were killed, 12,000 heards of cattle were lost and lakhs of people were displaced in the State. Besides, around 4.92 lakh houses got destroyed/ damaged in addition to heavy loss of public property. The crop area that got damaged was also extensive measuring up to, 3.83 lakh hectares.”
No specific advisories stopping fishermen from venturing into the seas in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts have been issued by the RMC, as of 8:30am.
Some Twitter users shared a light hearted laugh by linking the rains with the recent performance of the Chennai Super Kings cricket team in IPL. “If only Chennai could rain some runs on the scoreboard. #chennairains #IPL,” tweeted one user referring to the team’s successive defeats.
