Chennai’s civic authorities reopened three flooded subways and restored all 420 major bus-route roads by Wednesday morning after heavy overnight rain disrupted several parts of the city, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G S Sameeran said.
The city recorded average rainfall of 7.3 cm over 24 hours, with rain continuing through Wednesday morning. South Chennai experienced the heaviest impact, particularly in Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam, Velachery, Alandur and Adyar. Several areas in central Chennai also reported waterlogging.
Sameeran said minor inundations were addressed overnight to keep roads open for traffic. Of the 22 subways maintained by the corporation, Jones Subway, Perambur Subway and Gengu Reddy Subway were inundated. Civic teams drained the three structures and reopened them to vehicular movement by morning.
The commissioner said all 420 roads used by bus services were open. However, pumping operations continued at AGS Colony in Velachery, where accumulated water had not yet been fully cleared.
At the Cathedral Road-Anna Salai junction near Semmozhi Poonga, the corporation faced additional difficulty because of the gradient along a 250-metre stretch. The civic body deployed three 40-horsepower motors to move water first towards Cathedral Road, then to Radhakrishnan Salai and finally into the Buckingham Canal, Sameeran said.
The pumping arrangement is intended to prevent prolonged disruption at one of the city’s important road junctions. The corporation’s response shows how Chennai’s flood management operations depend not only on permanent drainage infrastructure but also on temporary pumping and the availability of clear discharge routes during intense rainfall.
The Chennai administration had anticipated heavy to torrential rain amid El Nino conditions. The Tamil Nadu chief minister directed the civic body to respond quickly and restore normal conditions at the earliest, according to the report. El Nino is the warm phase of a natural Pacific climate cycle that can alter weather patterns and increase the risk of both droughts and floods, while also intensifying the effects of human-induced global warming.
To manage the response, the corporation deployed equal numbers of personnel during its morning and night shifts, sources said. The continuing work at Velachery and the Cathedral Road-Anna Salai junction remained the main active pumping operations identified by the civic administration as it worked to keep traffic moving and clear remaining inundation.
