Dense rain clouds, power cuts leave streets in dark

Dense rain clouds, power cuts leave streets in dark

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

21.05.2021

Rain that lashed some parts of the city and its suburbs on Thursday evening might stay with us for the next two days. The showers on Thursday, accompanied by strong breeze, caused power cuts in some neighbourhoods.

Southern suburbs received the maximum rain on Thursday - Meenambakam 2.3cm, West Tambaram 2.8cm, OMR 3.4cm, Chembarambakkam 1.6cm, while areas in the city such as Nandanam and Villivakkam recorded 1.2cm and 1.5cm rain. Many neighbourhoods including Aminjikarai, Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam, Korattur and parts of North Chennai received a short yet good spell of rain. There were power cuts for more than three hours in Pazhavanthangal, Pallikaranai, Keelkattalai, Medavakkam, Maduravoyal and Porur.

A senior official with Tangedco said they had cut power as precaution for field workers to check if there were any low-lying wires in the suburbs. “There were no cuts in most parts of the city.”

Chances of rain in the next 48 hours are high due to convergence of sea breeze and land breeze ahead of formation of a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. An IMD forecast for the city said, “The sky condition is likely to be partly cloudy. Light rain is likely to occur in some areas.”

The southwest monsoon will make its onset and a low pressure that may turn into a cyclone will also develop over the south Andaman Sea by May 22. The state government has issued an alert asking fishermen to return to shore by May 23. However, the low pressure and the possible cyclone may not bring much rain to Chennai once the system takes shape and starts to move towards West Bengal.

SUDDEN SILHOUETTE: Dark clouds loomed over Chennai early on Thursday evening and resulted in a short, brisk spell of rain