Fresh rain shuts down Chennai

Torrential downpour on Monday immobilised Chennai, which was grappling with the aftermath of heavy rains that lashed the city last week. Roads were flooded, houses and office buildings inundated and people were marooned across the city. Power supplies to many parts of the city have been cut off as a precautionary measure.

Velachery and Madipakkam on the southern outskirts of the city, which were among the worst-affected areas last week, were again cut off today.

Corporate offices also bore the brunt of the deluge. Olympia Tech and Accenture campuses were water-logged. Infosys office in Mahindra City and Sholinganallur were closed down in the afternoon.

An employee who stayed back in the guest room of one of the offices in Mahindra City said that with the power supply cut off and canteen flooded, chances getting food were slim.

While water levels in most of the main roads such as Vadapalani-Kodambakkam road and Sholinganallur-Medavakkam road is rising, Grand Southern Trunk road is flooded, resulting in traffic congestion near Guduvancheri.

Shobana Gopalan, who works in a company in Mahindra City and was going home in the company bus to Tambaram, said, “I’m stuck in Potheri for the past four hours and I’m not sure when the traffic will move.”

The authorities have released surplus water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into the Adyar river and people living downstream were requested to move to safer places.

According to a resident of Thoraippakam, the area is heavy waterlogged. Perungalathur, which was largely unaffected by last week’s rains, was waterlogged today. A resident, Manimala E said, “It took me three hours to reach home from Tambaram in my own vehicle. People travelling in buses were stranded and train services are irregular.”

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