Good morning, Chennai!
🌧️ Today’s weather: High: 28 ℃ | Low: 24 ℃ | Cloudy with a chance of rain.
🧐 Did you know? The Madras School of Arts & Crafts was started as a private institution in 1850. It was later taken over by the colonial administration in 1859 and subsequently upgraded to the Government College of Arts & Crafts in 1963.
📱 Residents stepped up
While helplines were jammed, residents stepped up to help others affected by the recent rains to coordinate relief efforts.
What’s it about? Across several areas, WhatsApp groups are helping Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) collect and forward complaints to officials. Most complaints are about fallen trees and the need for emergency supplies.
- 25 volunteers from the United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations of Tambaram Corporation became the community’s lifeline. Since Monday night, the team got over 35 calls from areas like Chromepet and Avadi. Members visit the area and report to officials.
- Six volunteers from the Association worked in shifts to cover 15 wards per zone to log and track complaints. For many residents, last year’s floods due to cyclone Michaung still haunt them.
Corporation overwhelmed: The Chennai Corporation received over 1,500 rain-related complaints in the past 24 hours. The Tambaram and Avadi Corporation got over 100. While some got through the helplines, others had to wait.
🌧️ Forecast ahead
Following heavy rains across the city, weather forecasters say the worst may be over.
What’s it about? Tuesday saw heavy rains lash Chennai and other districts as roads and neighbourhoods experienced flooding and water stagnation. While the IMD has reported the low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into a depression, the rains are likely to subside.
- Weather experts expect the depression to cross the North Tamil Nadu – South Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday evening. The heaviest rain is likely between Chennai and Nellore.
- An earlier IMD bulletin said that heavy to very rain was forecast for October 16. In the wake of that announcement, the government declared a holiday for schools and colleges for Wednesday.
Monsoon arrives: The North East monsoon has arrived and coastal Tamil Nadu is expected to continue receiving widespread rains as a fresh low pressure area could develop over the Arabian Sea in the next 2-3 days.
🛒 Grabbing the essentials
Even before the rains began, many shops had empty shelves as people stocked up.
What’s it about? As a red alert was issued in Chennai and neighbouring districts, supermarkets and grocery stores had low stock of food supplies and essentials. Stores in many areas had crowds of people buying vegetables, milk, and bread.
- Essential items were also low or out of stock on online platforms. Market areas in Choolai and Egmore had low footfall as traders complained about poor sales.
- Stalls at the Chintadripet wholesale fish market were closed, and the catch was low for the day. Poultry and mutton stock ran out in many shops by 10 am. The arrival of stock from western districts was delayed.
Residents’ woes: Many residents took to social media to vent their frustration about supermarkets and stores running out of supplies in several areas of the city.
🤝 Samsung strike ends
Following discussions with the government, the SIEU has ended their strike as workers are expected to return to the Samsung plant today.
What happened? After a meeting between the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), representing the Samsung workers, and the government, the union is expected to take a final call to end the 37-day-long strike. The government said the pending issues were sorted out.
- President of the workers union, E Muthukumar, said the discussions were positive, and they would meet with the workers. The union is likely to call off the strike pending workers’ acceptance, which is expected.
- Samsung said it won’t take action against workers who participated in the strike. Minister EV Velu said the workers agreed to return to work at the Sriperumbudur plant.
Demands: Samsung said it will work with the employees union to make the plant a better place to work. Fourteen demands of the workers were accepted by the company following conciliatory talks on October 7.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Did your locality experience waterlogging due to the rains?
- My locality was waterlogged due to the rains.
- My locality wasn’t waterlogged due to the rains.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Which is your favourite vacation spot?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Indira Nagar residents alleged incomplete and inadequate stormwater drain work as they faced inundation and flooding.
- MTC buses came to the aid of airline passengers as taxi services were limited.
- Residents in low-lying areas decided to park their vehicles inside or on flyovers.
- Many IT professionals decided to spend the day in luxury hotels for reliable internet and power.
- Following multiple arrests of thieves by the police, the city recorded only one chain-snatching incident in the past 100 days.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I prefer cold beverages: 66.7% 🏆
- I prefer hot beverages: 33.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your preferred way to have eggs cooked?
Chitra: “Scrambled”
Suchi: “Egg masala”
Krishna: “Boiled”
Shiva: “Full boiled”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!