Chennai receives short spell of rain, steps on to fix roads in Madipakkam

Along with Chennai, Vellore and Cuddalore also received light to moderate rainfall- 13 mm and 26 mm respectively.

CHENNAI:  Some parts of Chennai received a short spell of moderate rainfall on Thursday. Nungambakkam observatory recorded 37.2 mm of rainfall from Wednesday morning till 5:30 pm on Thursday. Southern parts of Chennai did not receive much rainfall on Thursday with the Meenambakkam observatory recording only trace amounts of rainfall. 

Along with Chennai, Vellore and Cuddalore also received light to moderate rainfall- 13 mm and 26 mm respectively. Nilgiris recorded 7 cm of rain in the 24 hours ending Thursday afternoon. Coimbatore also received around 4 cm of rain. The maximum temperature in the state was recorded in Madurai, at 39 degrees Celsius.

‘End to road woes in Madipakkam soon’

Meanwhile, corporation commissioner J Radhakrishnan held a review meeting at the Ripon Building, where he said that a ward-level committee will be formed in areas like Madipakkam and Manapakkam, where the roads have been damaged due to metro water’s ongoing underground sewage project.

“Since we cannot stop major developmental works, we have asked area engineers of metro water and junior engineers of corporation to coordinate and initiate permanent restoration in streets as and when work is complete,” the commissioner said.  In the next three days, 40 of the 124 roads where the underground drainage work is being done are scheduled to be restored permanently and tenders are ready to be floated, he added. As far as the remaining roads are concerned, temporary water-based macadam will be laid to help motorists use the roads. For temporary repairs, additional funds will be allocated to the concerned zones, Radhakrishnan said. 

The civic body has also initiated flood charting in some wards where it identified flood-prone wards and the time taken to drain to increase response time.  “I also ask residents to cooperate by not dumping garbage on the streets and in the drains that clog chute pipes and end up in canals even though we clear them from time to time. For our part, we will take steps to ensure developmental projects are carried out without inconveniencing the public,” Radhakrishnan said. 

The city corporation has so far completed around 800 kilometres of stormwater drain work and work is on for another 592 kilometres.  For the next 48 hours, some areas of Chennai May receive light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning. For Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, light to moderate rain with thunderstorms and lightning may occur over the next four days, according to the IMD forecast. The maximum temperature in Chennai on Friday is likely to be 36-37 degree Celsius and the minimum temperature is likely to be around 27 degree Celsius.