After months of scorching heat, rains came as a relief to many parts of Chennai on Wednesday evening, with the city reportedly recording upwards of 9 mm of rainfall. While rainfall was recorded across the city, heavy rains were witnessed in the southern and central parts of the city as well as the coastal areas. This includes Thiruvanmiyur, Saidapet, Teynampet, Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam and other areas. The rains also brought traffic congestions along Kotturpuram, Anna Salai and Guindy.
According to the Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai, isolated rainfall is expected in the city over the next five days. “The sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy. One or two spells of light rain is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum and Minimum temperatures are likely to be around 38 and 29 deg Celsius respectively,” states the Met Department’s release on Wednesday regarding the next 48 hours.
Shortly before the showers began, weather blogger Pradeep John who runs the popular Facebook page Tamil Nadu Weatherman, wrote, “Well we missed widespread rains yesterday but today should not be miss and as the clouds triggered by heat and the UAC has covered wide area and should rain better compared to previous day spells. The UAC is NE of Chennai so storms will come from NW direction. Gateway of rains will be from Avadi and Ambattur without any major thunders.” (sic)
The showers come as a relief for the city which has been reeling under a severe water crisis. Many parts of the city had gone bone dry, with several residents being entirely dependent on private water tankers – but only if they could afford the rising prices. While the government assured citizens that the state can tide over the water situation till monsoons bring relief, this proved not to be the case. The woes of residents continue to mount with their best hope being the North East monsoon likely to set in around July- August.