Good morning, Chennai!
🌧️ Today’s weather: High: 26 ℃ | Low: 22 ℃ | Cloudy with a chance of some rain.
🧐 Did you know? The first train in South India, manufactured by Simpson & Company, started its journey with 300 people from Royapuram to Walaja road.
🌧️ Waterlogged once again
The northeast monsoon’s first cyclone left several parts of the city waterlogged.
What happened? Cyclone Fengal dumped 84.86 mm of rain from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., resulting in waterlogging in 553 pockets of the city. Residents across areas like Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Velachery, and Anna Nagar shared their woes and the civic body’s efforts to pump out stagnant water.
- Water was drained in 172 pockets across Chennai using 1,686 pumps. The Chennai Corporation is in the process of creating a pond adjacent to the six-vent culvert in Velachery. Incomplete and inadequate desilting work resulted in water stagnation.
- In places like Perambur and Pattalam, monsoons are synonymous with waterlogging. The civic body failed to desilt the stormwater drains in time.
Complaints: According to the Chennai Corporation, from October 15 to November 30, it received 50,533 complaints concerning waterlogging and fallen trees through the 1913 helpline. Nearly 40,000 complaints have been addressed.
🚌 Rains disrupt public transport
Heavy rains disrupted the MTC and suburban services.
What happened? Chennai’s Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus and the suburban rail services were disrupted amid the heavy torrential downpour. Several buses and trains were cancelled or diverted, forcing commuters to spend more on taxis and autos.
- MRTS train services between Chennai Beach and Velachery were suspended. The Chennai-Jolarpettai daily express trains were cancelled. Some suburban trains were delayed by 30-40 minutes, and the frequency was reduced for safety reasons.
- The MTC diverted buses away from waterlogged subways. Buses from Avadi, Ambattur, and other areas were kept at CMBT. Some bus services were diverted on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, EVR Periyar Road, and Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
Passengers stranded: Several local trains operated at a lower speed due to inundated tracks. The delays led to hundreds of commuters being stranded at stations for several hours.
🛬 Airport operations disrupted
The Chennai airport closed down for 16 hours due to adverse weather conditions.
What’s it about? As Cyclone Fengal approached the city, the Chennai airport ceased operations due to strong winds and heavy rain. The bad weather initially forced the airport to close down from 12.30 pm on Saturday following a meeting with airlines in the morning. Operations then resumed earlier than usual at 1 am on Sunday morning.
- Operations remained normal till 8 am on Saturday. However, crosswinds and heavy rains forced 19 flights to be diverted to Truchy, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Calicut, Colombo, and Kolkata.
- Since there was uncertainty over the timing of Fengal’s landfall and the prediction of strong winds, the decision was made to close operations till 4 am.
Facilitating passengers: 110 flights were cancelled due to the cyclone. Passengers couldn’t find reliable transport due to a lack of cabs and buses, except for the metro. The MTC arranged special buses to ferry passengers from the airport.
🥛 Aavin milk supply uninterrupted
Despite heavy rains, Aavin continued to supply milk to all its customers.
What’s it about? Amid heavy rains due to the cyclone, Aavin continued to supply 15 lakh litres of milk across Chennai, ensuring 100% coverage. Private milk supplies, on the other hand, faced disruptions.
- Aavin, the state-owned cooperative, usually supplies 12-13 lakh litres of milk every day in Chennai, mostly to domestic consumers. Private dealers are preferred by large establishments like hotels and shops.
- The city’s daily milk demand is about 26 lakh litres. Aavin accounts for 13 lakh litres. In addition to 15 lakh litres, Aavin supplied 10,000 kg of milk powder.
Plant operations: The dairy plants in Sholinganallur, Madhavaram, and Ambattur operated with minimal disruptions. Capacity was slightly reduced due to water stagnation and mobilising staff.
📊 Today’s Poll
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Do you experience power cuts during heavy rains?
- I experience power cuts during heavy rains.
- I don’t experience power cuts during heavy rains.
❓ Today’s Question
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Which Indian city would you live in if given the choice?
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🗞️ In other news…
- Police personnel helped rescue elders and clear fallen trees amidst heavy rains.
- Heavy rains caused severe waterlogging as residents struggled in North Chennai.
- Hoardings and open manholes posed an added risk to motorists on several inundated roads.
- Chembarambakkam reservoir’s water levels increased on Saturday 10-fold to over 5,600 cusecs.
- Chief Minister MK Stalin reviewed relief work as Amma Canteens provided free food.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!