Chennai: As rains continue to lash many parts of Tamil Nadu, all public and private schools, colleges and institutions across Chennai and North Kancheepuram have been ordered to be closed for today. With the northeast monsoon remaining active over the state, the MeT has forecast more rains for the next two days.
"A low pressure has formed over the southwest Bay of Sri Lanka coast. During the last 24 hours, fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Tamil Nadu," S Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said on Thursday.
In the next two days, moderate rainfall is expected in many places in south Tamil Nadu and a few areas in the north coastal parts of the state, he told reporters.
Heavy rainfall is also expected at one or two places over south Tamil Nadu and Cauvery delta districts, Balachandran said, advising fishermen in the coastal areas of the regions to be "cautious".
As far as Chennai is concerned, some light spells of rain are expected in the next two days, he said.
Schools and colleges remained shut for the fourth consecutive day as the north east monsoon dumped heavy rain across the state, inundating low-lying areas in most places including capital Chennai and adjoining districts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.
The Anna University and Madras University postponed semester examinations scheduled for Thursday and the government asked IT companies to either declare holiday or allow their employees to work from home, officials said.
The widespread flooding and warning of heavy rain revived memories of a catastrophic deluge which had battered Chennai in 2015, leaving millions of people stranded in their homes and offices and crippling the hub of automobile and IT majors.
On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami took stock of the rain situation, a day after two children were electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire submerged in water, in Kodungaiyur locality here.
Palaniswami held discussions with his cabinet colleagues including Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and senior government officials.
"Honourable CM of TN taking stock of situation arising out of #rains (and) giving instructions to Ministers and officers," a tweet from the official handle of Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Agency said.
The meeting came amid reports of downpour in many parts of the southern state, including Nagapattinam, where the monsoon fury has not only inundated low-lying areas, but also affected standing crops.
Vaitheeswarankoil and Sirkazhi in the district have also been battered by heavy rains.
The relentless rain in and around Chennai also resulted in an increase in the storage levels of reservoirs supplying drinking water to the city.
The combined storage of four reservoirs feeding Chennai -- Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam-- stood at 1,925 mcft (million cubic feet), as against the full combined capacity of 11,057 mcft, data by the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board said.
The combined storage on November 2, 2016, stood at 1,270 mcft, it said.
The storage is likely to go up following the forecast of more rain, and with the ongoing north-east monsoon scheduled to last till December.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar today condoled the death of two children who were electrocuted at Kodungaiyur yesterday.
He expressed his condolences to the families of Yuvasri and Bhavana, who died after coming in contact with a live wire submerged in stagnant water.
The minister told reporters that the government would not tolerate any "laxity" on such issues and pointed out that eight officials of TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited) had been suspended in connection with the incident.
