Rains to reduce gradually in coming days in TN: Met Dept

In what could come as some good news for the monsoon-battered districts of Tamil Nadu including Chennai, the Meteorological office on Sunday said that rains will reduce gradually in the coming days.

Many places in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry received rains in the last 24 hours, SB Thampi, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, said.

During this period (ended 8.30 am today), Papanasam in Tirunelveli district recorded 14 cm, followed by Manimutharu and Nagapattinam at 12 cm, he told reporters here.

In the next 24 hours, light spells of rains are expected in many places over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry while heavy rains have been forecast in one or two places in south Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery delta region and Puducherry, he said.

However, "there is a possibility of rains gradually reducing in the coming days," he added.

Meanwhile, residents of Chennai and neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur had some respite from the monsoon rains as the sun shone bright today, raising hopes that stagnant water would recede.

However, water-logging was reported in some parts of the city and its suburbs like Pallikaranai, Avadi and Semmanchery.

Normal life has been affected in these coastal districts as the active northeast monsoon has brought torrential downpour since last week.

Most water bodies in neighbouring Kancheepuram district were fast filling up, including the well-known Maduranthakam tank which neared its full capacity of 23 feet.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Palaniswami reviewed the block-clearing activities at the Link Canal in Kodungaiyur.

Earlier, he flagged off 200 medical teams to cater to people in rain-affected areas in different parts of the state.

Already, 401 medical camps are in place in the affected parts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Nagapattinam districts among others, he said.

"The government has taken special care to press 601 medical teams into service to attend to people affected by the rain," he said.

These camps would be useful to prevent spread of diseases that come up during the monsoon, he said, and urged people to immediately visit the nearest ones if they had any symptoms of illness.

Further, systems were in place to check the amount of chlorine in drinking water, he said, and underlined his government's commitment to ensure public health in such times.

The North-East monsoon has been active over Tamil Nadu, with Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts receiving heavy downpour since last week.

Many parts in these districts have suffered from inundation of low-lying areas.

Special rescue and relief teams have been formed even as dams and reservoirs were being monitored to prevent anti- social elements from creating problems, the government had said in a statement yesterday.