CHENNAI: One hour. 50 mm rainfall. That is the kind of pounding the city took between 4.30 pm and 5.30 pm on Monday after a deceptively sunny day.
The sudden downpour not just dragged the city back into sheets of water, but paralysed traffic in the almost entire city. Most of the motorists who took to the roads after 4 pm spent hours and hours on the roads as there was bumper to bumper traffic barely crawling along across all main roads.
“I left my office in Fourth Avenue, Ashok Nagar at 6.30 pm. By 9.30 pm, I could only reach Ambica Empire signal. I didn’t see too much water on the roads. But the traffic snarl was killing,” said George Abraham, who was quiet unsure if he would be able to reach his home at Mogappair before midnight.
For most part of the day, the weather appeared pleasant with mild drizzles and occasional rains. The rain gauge recorded hardly 10 mm until 4.30 pm (since 8.30 am) and it looked similar to one of the past few days with less than 30 mm of rains to help the city limp back to normalcy. But dark clouds quickly gathered and started pounding the already battered city.
“I waiting for bus in Guindy around 5 pm when suddenly it began to rain heavily. Most of the buses refused to ply to Koyambedu. The rain did not relent for almost one-and-a-half hours,” said Suresh Kumar, a Nanganallur resident.
The sudden downpour turned into heavy currents with water reaching almost hip level in certain roads. “The water current on the road was so strong that it almost resembled like crossing a river,” said K Saravanan, who happened to cross the Olympia signal on the 100 ft road around 5 pm. Some of them chose to park their bikes in safer places and take the Metro rail, which got unusually crowded in the evening.
Bus passengers said it took up to one-and-a-half hours for the buses to navigate from inside the CMBT bus terminus to the 100 ft road, which is bang outside the terminus. Since important traffic junctions got inundated, it paralysed traffic in most of the major roads in the city, explained a traffic police officer. “I left my home in my car at R A Puram at 6.30 pm. But until 9.30 pm I could reach only Gemini junction,” said P A Roshna, a business analyst.
Even within the core part of the city, like Halls Road at Egmore, pedestrians had to wade through knee-deep water. At Mylapore, at least three cars got struck in the sudden floods leading to traffic snarls in the area for a few hours. A few subways also got filled with water making it almost impossible for vehicles to cross them.
Just like the previous rainy days, taxis refused to ply and booking requests through taxi company apps were repeatedly declined.
The traffic paralysis in the city meant a few decided to spend the night in their offices. “There are no cabs available. So I have to stay back in office. The office cabs that left by 5 pm shift themselves have not returned yet,” said D Sudharshan, a software professional working at SP Infocity.
Rains begin to recede after 6.30 pm. By 8.30 pm, a total of 97 mm of rains was recorded at Meenambakkam and 92 mm in Nungambakkam. ccording to the Regional Meteorological Department, rains are likely to continue for the next two days. It was attributed to a trough of low pressure over Southwest Bay and adjoining equatorial Indian Ocean. The Met department has also warned of thundershowers over the next few days.