Chennai: It was a scene of cloud burst on Wednesday, as heavy rains lashed various parts of the city, taking a toll on the substandard civic infrastructure, causing traffic blocks and resulting in the diversion of many flights. Anna University recorded the highest rainfall (for Wednesday) of 8cm in the city, noted in a short span of one hour.
Meanwhile, the August rains had another record to break. The 114mm rainfall received by Tamil Nadu this month (till 16 August) makes it the wettest August in the past five years. The significant rains witnessed in August have helped the state to jump from deficiency to excess rainfall category, in southwest monsoon, the data from the Regional Meteorological Centre stated.
Officials from the Regional Meteorological Centre attributed the rainfall to the convection and said that the rains would continue for the next two to three days.
According to weather blogger Pradeep John, there is a good chance of the state to break the past records in 2008 and 2007. “Tamil Nadu noted 114mm in 16 days of August. As we are expecting more rains, there is a possibility to break the record of 151mm and 131mm noted in 2007 and 2008,” Pradeep John, who blogs at the Tamil Nadu Weatherman said.
As a whole, the state recorded 204mm rainfall since the commencement of southwest monsoon rains on June 1, thus being at 32 per cent excess rains. Chennai’s Nungambakkam noted 13mm, while Meenambakkam recorded 17mm. Satyabama University and Katupakkam noted 27mm and 20mm respectively.
