After overnight flooding, parts of Chennai are under water, and schools are closed.

On Friday, waterlogging caused by heavy rain in several areas of Chennai forced the closure of schools and colleges in 14 districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The government has established 5,093 relief camps, including 169 in Chennai, after the meteorology office forecasted significant rains in some areas of the state.

In the Pulianthope neighbourhood of north Chennai, images showed waterlogged roadways as cars drove through the ankle-deep water. We find it really challenging to obtain our daily necessities, claimed a local.

In low-lying regions of the city, up to 879 drainage pumps have been installed, and 60 monitoring officers have been assigned to the affected districts.

More than 2,000 volunteers from the federal and state emergency response groups are ready to help.

While the city’s northern region was flooded by the overnight rain, its southern and centre regions, notably T-Nagar and Velacherry, were mostly spared thanks to the new storm-water drains constructed over the previous seven months.

According to officials, the waterlogging problems in places like Korattur and Periya Nagar would be resolved by a $3 billion project that is currently under development and will build 700 km of storm-water drains. The districts of Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Vellore, Salem, Namakkal, Thiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, and Ramanathapuram have all declared rain holidays for their schools and colleges, in addition to Chennai.

In the districts of Ranipet, Kancheepuram, and Thiruvallur, extremely heavy rainfall has been forecast. The delta region’s districts of Chennai, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and others are preparing for heavy to very heavy rainfall.

Rainfall in Tamil Nadu is caused by a persistent low-pressure region over the Bay of Bengal, southwest off the coast of Sri Lanka. This northeast monsoon season, 35% to 75% more rain is anticipated in the state.