Tamil Nadu: Heavy rainfall causes waterlogging in Madurai, schools closed

Tamil Nadu received widespread rains across the state, with the southern districts recording heavy showers on Thursday as the North East Monsoon intensified. It caused waterlogging in several parts of Madurai after heavy rainfall in the region.

Following this, the Madurai District Collector declared a holiday for schools today, November 9, Thursday.

The administration in several districts, including four taluks in the Nilgiris district, besides Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Tiruppur, and Coimbatore districts, declared a holiday for schools today. 

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has forecast isolated heavy rainfall over the state. It said that a low-pressure area was formed over the East-central Arabian Sea at 5.30 pm on November 8 under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over the Southeast and adjoining East central Arabian Sea. 

It is likely to move nearly westwards and become less marked over the same region during the next 24 hours, the Met added. 

Kotagiri in the Nilgiris district topped the tally with 228 mm of rainfall. Continuous rainfall also caused landslides at about five places on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway line, leading to the cancellation of the mountain train service. 

A landslide occurred at Kotagiri too, affecting the road traffic, and, as a result, traffic was diverted via Coonoor to Mettupalayam. Moderate thunderstorms occurred over Tenkasi, Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvallur districts.

The Northeast Monsoon has been active throughout the state and Chennai and surrounding areas, too, received rainfall.

Due to heavy rain in lower Kothagiri, NMR Mountain train No. 06136 Mettupalayam - Udagamandalam train and Train No. 06137 Udagamandalam - Mettupalayam train of today (09.11.2023) have been cancelled.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that isolated heavy rainfall is very likely to continue over Tamil Nadu on November 9, with a significant reduction thereafter.

(With inputs from agencies)