The cyclonic rain which has caused havoc in these parts, is expected to move towards the East and northeast of Chennai towards Andhra coast between Ongole and Visakhapatnam in the early hours of tomorrow. 

The city had an rainfall of 8 cm till around noon today, an official from the meteorological department said here. The city can expect moderate rainfalls in the next 48 hours until the cyclone moves and intensifies at Andhra coast.

‘There is knee deep water near the Koyambedu bus depot, Asia’s biggest bus terminal, operating city and inter-state bus services. It took nearly 45 minutes by car to cross the 500 m stretch from Vadapalani to Koymabedu bus stop,’ a person, who was caught struck in the traffic jam said.

It was even worse in the city as traffic virtually came to a standstill in arterial roads. As trees were uprooted on the busy Kodambakkam High road near Valluvarkottam, traffic was diverted, causing further hardship to the commuters.

The downpour and the accompanying winds brought down trees in eight areas including Washermanpet, Arunachalam Road, Kilpauk Taylor’s Road. Corporation and Fire Service personnel rushed to the spot and ensured normalcy. A branch of a big tree came crashing down on a car on the Arya Gowda Street.

 

The residents from many areas like Ashok Nagar, Purasaiwakkam, Tambaram faced power cuts since last night. There were also complaints that some of the transformer lines had burnt.

Problems of water logging have also crippled transport in the city very badly since today. The low-lying north Chennai areas like Perambur, Vyasarpadi and the southern areas that of Saidapet, Adyar, Velacherry encountered sheets of water.

The city Corporation Mayor M Subramainam on Wednesday visited those areas affected by the rainfall and has ordered necessary steps to be taken to bring relief to the public. He said that the Corporation and its officials are equipped with all precautionary measures to tackle the showers-related problems and the public will not be facing the problems of the past this time.

Due to the consistent rainfal, trains arriving at and departing from the Chennai Egmore were delayed by around 30 minutes. There were also signal malfunctioning in the Basin Bridge area and this added to the woes for train-users. 

Even though the officials and experts from meteorological department say that the earlier onset of south west monsoon this time will bring in normal rainfall to the state, the farmers are all waiting with their fingers crossed.