Chennai: The monsoon is here and with vigour. As widespread rain lashed the State, normal life was most disrupted in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram. The State capital, always underprepared to face monsoons, woke up to water logging on Monday, throwing traffic out of gear and schools struggling to get the kids home early. Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur also received heavy rains with Anaikaranchatram (Kollidam) in Nagapattinam receiving 9 cm. Chennai and Tiruvallur received 4 to 6 cm of rain on Monday.
Chennai airport saw disruptions in flight arrivals and departures. Caught in snarls as traffic crawled in rain, air passengers called their respective airlines seeking more time to board the flights. As many as 28 flights set to depart from Chennai were delayed on Monday, of which three were international flights plying to Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Dubai, airport sources said.
Wet and poor road conditions saw a traffic-choked central and south Chennai struggle to move on Monday night even as storm water inundated low-lying areas in north Chennai. Traffic along the arterial GST, GNT, Poonamalee high road and Madras Tirupati highway was choked till Monday night. The situation was worse in southern and western suburbs. Mudichur and Perungalathur, which suffered the most during the 2015 floods, witnessed a power cut that lasted most part of the day. The Chennai corporation helpline was busy attending to water-logging complaints till late into the night. As many as 200 water logging comlaints were recorded and attended by the corporation.
