Heavy rain disrupts Chennai as severe cyclone Murasu nears Andhra coast

Chennai: Heavy rain disrupted daily life across Chennai on Monday morning, leaving roads waterlogged and keeping civic teams on alert as severe cyclonic storm Murasu moved over the Bay of Bengal towards the Andhra Pradesh coast.

Northern neighbourhoods recorded some of the heaviest rainfall, with Parrys receiving 149.2 mm in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. on Monday.

New Manali Town registered 141.6 mm, followed by Manali with 136.2 mm, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Integrated Command and Control Centre.

The corporation’s rainfall report showed very heavy rain at five monitoring locations and heavy rain at another 28.

The latter included locations in Madhavaram, Puzhal, Manali, Ennore, Basin Bridge and parts of Tondiarpet, highlighting the widespread impact of the continuing wet spell across northern Chennai.

Moderate rainfall was recorded at 25 locations, including Korattur, Ayapakkam, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur.

The distribution showed that southern and western neighbourhoods also received rain, although the highest totals were concentrated in the northern parts of the city.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G.S. Sameeran inspected water stagnation on Besant Road in Triplicane and reviewed the civic response.

He also visited the Integrated Command and Control Centre at the Ripon Building to assess relief measures and monitoring operations.

Senior corporation officials and field teams remained on alert to drain waterlogged roads and maintain essential services in affected neighbourhoods.

The control centre continued monitoring conditions as civic personnel attended to rain-related problems across the city.

Meanwhile, rough waves lashed Chennai’s beaches on Monday morning as the cyclonic system intensified, adding to the unsettled weather along the coast.

According to the India Meteorological Department’s bulletin issued at 5 a.m., Murasu had strengthened into a severe cyclonic storm.

At 2.30 a.m., its centre lay approximately 260 km east-northeast of Chennai and 290 km east-southeast of Nellore.

The weather department said the storm was expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, close to Ongole, between midnight on November 2 and the early hours of November 3.

The system was packing sustained winds of 100–110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph, according to the bulletin.

With the storm approaching the Andhra coast, Chennai’s civic response remained focussed on clearing accumulated rainwater, monitoring affected areas and sustaining essential services as the city continued to experience the wet spell.

Meanwhile, anticipating the possibility of large-scale damage to electricity infrastructure, particularly uprooting of electric poles in areas likely to be affected by the cyclone, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay and Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar requesting them to send necessary personnel and machinery to Andhra Pradesh to undertake electricity infrastructure restoration works.

According to an official release late on Sunday night, both Chief Ministers responded positively and assured of extending all possible assistance to Andhra Pradesh. Chandrababu Naidu informed them that Andhra Pradesh officials would coordinate with their counterparts in the two states to facilitate the required support.

Personnel from Telangana are already engaged in field-level operations to restore the electricity infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Arnab.

As a precautionary measure, the Andhra Pradesh Government has also kept electricity department personnel, who have completed restoration works in Cyclone Arnab-affected areas, ready for deployment in regions likely to be affected by Cyclone ‘Murasu’.

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