Tamil Nadu continues to be on high alert as the meteorological department has issued an Orange alert for 14 districts, including Chennai, with heavy to very heavy rains predicted in the next 2-3 days. A low-pressure area is likely to form in the next 24 hours over the Bay of Bengal, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said in its bulletin.

The cyclonic circulation is over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining south Andaman Sea, extending up to 5.8 km above mean sea level persists. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is very likely to form over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the neighbourhood during the next 24 hours. It is likely to move west – northwestwards, concentrate into a depression and reach north Tamilnadu coast by the early morning of November 11, the bulletin said.

Chennai weather

For Chennai, the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy. Thunderstorms with moderate rain, heavy at times, are likely to occur in some areas. the bulletin said. Though many parts of Chennai were inundated due to the torrential rains in the past couple of days, industrial estates, which houses micro and small units, witnessed a partial impact on their operations.

“In Ekkaduthangal, only some areas are flooded. Most of the units have not closed their operations as we cannot afford to close units during these challenging times. But employees are not able to come due to flooding in their homes and disruption to the transport services. Since today is the last day for paying the electricity bills and rains have caused disruptions, the government should extend the deadline by 2-3 days for us to pay,” said V Nithiyanantham, General Secretary of TANSTIA.

Industrial zones

In Ambattur industrial state area, barring a few low-lying areas, most of the units were continuing their operations.

“Though there is some waterlogging in the northern and southern parts of the estate, most of the units are able to function. Units, where EB junction boxes were under water, are not able to function as power supply has been stopped,” said a member of AIEMA (Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers’ Association).

Meanwhile, manufacturing operations at two key industrial corridors – Oragadam and Sriperumbudur were not affected. Production was on in automobile units such as Hyundai, Royal Enfield, Yamaha and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV).

“DICV continues to closely monitor the heavy rainfall situation in Chennai. We are operating today, November 8. The water inflow and outflow at the plant remains normal due to our carefully planned drainage systems and effective emergency protocols,” said a spokesperson of DICV.

Schools shut

Despite adverse weather conditions, flight operations at Chennai airport continued as per schedule on Monday. The State government declared a general holiday on Monday. Schools will be shut on Monday and Tuesday in Chennai and its surrounding districts.

Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji in a tweet said that there are nearly 44,50,000 power connections within the Chennai distribution circle, out of which only 12,297 have been suspended due to safety reasons.

Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran said that in Chennai district, maximum rainfall of 67.8 mm was recorded. In the last 24 hours, four persons died in Chennai, Theni and Madurai districts with 16 animal deaths reported. A total of 263 huts have been damaged of which 26 huts were damaged completely. A total of 70 houses have been damaged with 65 houses partially and 5 houses completely.

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