Chennai's suburbs face rain fury on Thursday as streets inundated, traffic flow hit, houses and shops flooded

CHENNAI: Overnight rains followed by Thursday’s downpour flooded several suburban streets of Pallavaram, Chromepet, Tambaram, Irumbuliyur, Perungalathur, Pallavaram, and Anagaputhur, significantly affecting regular life.

The GST Road in Tambaram and Irumbuliyur was completely inundated, slowing down traffic, while potholes caused unassuming motorists to lose balance and fall, many of them sustaining injuries.

Karthikeyan, a resident of Tambaram, said the Highways department should have repaired small potholes on the national highway before the monsoon as lakhs of people use it every day. These potholes turn into death traps when it rains.

Traffic came to a crawl in Sholinganallur and Karapakkam areas as rains caused flooding on the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

On a swamped ECR, police along with Metro Rail workers were seen repairing clogged stormwater drains to release stagnant water from the road.

The Pallavaram-Anagaputhur Road, which comes under the Tambaram Corporation limit, was completely inundated. Rainwater entered houses and shops along the road, trapping their occupants for a while as they could not evacuate immediately. Residents said the corporation recently dug pits for underground drains, but did not close them properly, causing water to accumulate and overflow, entering houses nearby.

In Kancheepuram district, areas like Orikkai, Sevilimedu, Olimohamed Pettai, Nathapettai, Ponerikarai, Walajabad, and Sunguvachatiram received heavy rainfall. Several streets in low-lying areas were flooded, forcing residents to move to safe zones. Residents here said the corporation must be prepared with multiple plans to handle the monsoon better so that common people will not suffer every year.