R. ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, APRIL 26
The first day of the four-day complete lockdown began in Chennai and its suburban areas with mercury plummeting on Sunday.
Surprise rains and cool winds lashed Chennai city in the early morning hours. Rains brought down the temperatures in the city that were witnessing sultry days for the last few days.
Rain with thunder and lightning along with strong winds began early in the morning and continued for a few hours
The regional meteorological centre (RMC) here had predicted heavy rains in interior districts of Tamil Nadu from Saturday and would continue till Monday.
According to reports, few southern districts had witnessed rain on Saturday.
N Puviarasan, Director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC attributed this to a trough at 0.9 mean sea level from the Comorin area to interior Tamil Nadu.
“Trough along with convection is likely to bring heavy rains in interior districts of the State for a few days,” he had said on Thursday.
Due to heavy wind, power supply in several areas in the city was disrupted on Sunday, reports of trees uprooted, and branches fell on the parking vehicles that occurred in few parts of the city.
The heavy rain, combined with winds, left the power infrastructure in disarray, causing technical snags, reported The Hindu.
Several areas in the north and south Chennai, including Villivakkam, T. Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Kodambakkam, Adyar, Velachery, Pallikaranai, and Medavakkam, were affected by power disruptions.
Particularly areas powered by overhead lines in south Chennai were left without electricity supply.
The Hindu quoting a senior official of Tangedco (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation) said power supply was disrupted due to the rain and winds causing damage to the power lines, bursting of transformers and technical snags in the junction boxes.
The electricity official said despite the maintenance staff working in limited numbers, power supply was being restored in phases in the affected areas, including Tambaram, Pallavaram, Madipakkam, T. Nagar and Kodambakkam.
