Chennai, Tamil Nadu rains: Red alert in 4 districts; schools closed – The Indian Express

The Tamil Nadu government has also declared a holiday for educational institutions in several districts on Friday on account of the rain.

According to latest inputs from the Regional Meteorlogical Centre, Chennai, the well-marked low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of northeast Sri Lanka is very likely to move northwestwards towards Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts till Saturday morning. It is likely to move across Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Saturday and Sunday, an officer said.

The state Revenue and Disaster Management Department said in a statement Thursday that a total of 169 relief centres have been set up in Chennai and 879 motor pumps kept ready to flush out stagnant water in low-lying areas.

A total of 17 monitoring officers are deployed in the thickly populated Chennai zone alone and 43 officers will be on duty for rest of the districts. Two monitoring officers each have been deployed for Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur zones.

The state has set up 5,093 relief camps and kept 1,149 personnel of National Disaster Response Force and 899 from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on standby.

The officials said that the total capacity of the Chembarambakkam reservoir is 24 feet and as of 8 am Thursday morning, it has reached 20 feet. Similarly, the water level at Puzhal reservoir has reached 18.53 feet as against the total capacity of 21.20 feet.

Schools and colleges in several districts, including Chennai, Chengalpet, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Kancheepuram and Vellore, have been declared a holiday on Friday owing to the heavy rain forecast. In Puducherry and Karaikal, educational institutions were declared holiday on Friday and Saturday.