Why rains haunt Chennai people and how do they prepare to fight the chaos

After the devastating 2015 floods in Tamil Nadu, Chennai people have developed morbid fear for rains.

Chennai, Nov 1: Talk about rains in front of a Chennaite, he/she is likely to turn glum immediately. There is a reason behind those sullen faces at the very mention of rains.

The residents of the capital city of Tamil Nadu are still being haunted by the horrible memories of the 2015 floods that left the entire city inundated and took the lives of at least 150 people across the state.

In December 2015, Chennai received heaviest rainfall in over a century, leading to flooding of airport and factories. In fact, the Navy and Coast Guard had joined rescue operations in the state.

Now, as it is once again raining cats and dogs in Chennai, several coastal areas of the state and Puducherry since Monday because of the onset of northeast monsoon, Chennaites are praying hard that things don't go out of hands as it happened during the 2015 floods.

It's not that things are fine in Chennai currently as several places in the city got waterlogged on Monday and Tuesday due to heavy showers. Because of waterlogging, Chennai experienced massive traffic jams on several major thoroughfares in the city in the last two days.

According to PTI, five people have died so far due to rain-related incidents in the state. On Tuesday, schools and colleges in Chennai and neigbouring districts were declared closed by the administration as a preventive measure to avoid putting children into any trouble.

According to weathermen at Skymet Weather, moderate to heavy rains are expected to occur in Chennai for the next few days.

"In fact, these hefty showers are expected to continue for at least three to four days, which means until November 4.

"Each year, during the Northeast Monsoon season, Chennai rains get intense and flooding occurs in the capital city throwing normal life out of gear. Some parts of Chennai may end up witnessing waterlogging and localised flooding this year as well, if heavy showers persist for a longer duration. However, the situation may not be as bad as 2015 floods in Chennai," stated the Skymet Weather.

Since weather prediction for the next few days is not so rosy, people of Chennai are preparing themselves to fight the chaos.

A tweet perfectly describes what Chennaites need to do during rains. It's a meme of Tamil superstar Dhanush asking everyone to keep their mobile phone charged and stock packets of bread, as during rains there is generally a power cut and food scarcity is a common problem.

While the hashtag--#ChennaiRains--has been trending since Monday, several Twitter users are updating people on weather and rain-related issues frequently.

OneIndia News