Rains again in Chennai, suburbs; Schools repoen

Chennai:  After a day’s respite, rains lashed parts of the city and its neighbourhood today even as schools reopened after a week-long holiday. Sharp showers were reported in parts of the city such as Mylapore, Royapettah and Mandaiveli and Tambaram and Chengalpattu in neighbouring Kancheepuram district.

Rains also lashed parts of Tiruvallur district. The weather office has forecast more showers with heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in southern Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal in neighbouring Puducherry today. Light to moderate rain was likely in the city and its neighbourhood, it said.

Schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts which remained closed since October 31 in the wake of torrential rains reopened today. Several parts of the state, especially coastal areas, have been receiving intermittent rains since the onset of the north east monsoon on October 27.

Parts of the city and suburbs in low-lying areas have been hit by water-logging after couple of heavy spells last week. Several southern districts such as Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Cuddalore have also been experiencing heavy rains since last week. However, there was a lull in rain activity here in the past two days with brief spells in some areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his one-day visit to the city yesterday, has assured all help from the Centre to the state to meet the situation. The state government has sought Rs 1,500 crore central assistance for rain-relief efforts and permanent solution to water-logging problem faced in the city suburbs.