States » SouthPosted at: Oct 18 2026 2:57PM


Rains batter Chennai, suburbs, Met office attributes to cumulonimbus clouds, convective activity

Chennai, Oct 18 (UNI) Heavy rains battered Chennai and its suburbs and in North costal districts last night with a few areas receving
a staggering spell in excess of 30 cms, even as Met office attributed it to convective activity while denying any localised cloudburst.
The rains which began last night, gained in intensity and continued all through the night and till early on Sunday morning, inundating several areas and government premises including Income Tax and HR and CE department offices.
Civic workers were pressed into service ever since the rains started and they were engaged in draining out the stagnated water. It was virtual flooding at AGS Nagar area in western suburb of Velacherry.
Apart from Chennai several districts also experienced copious rains as the Northeast monsoon, which commenced a couple of days back, became vigorous.
The Met office has issued a Red Alert -- rains in excess of 20 cms -- for Chennai for today and Orange alert for its neighbouring districts.
The Revenue and Disaster Management department issued a Red Alert message with a warning sound to all mobile users asking the people to take all precautions.
The formation of a Low Pressure Area over Arabian Sea would bring more rains in addition to the NE monsoon rains.
On heavy and very heavy extreme rainfall that occurred over Chennai and neighbourhood areas, Met office said it was due to enhanced wind convergence and moisture transport over North coastal Tamil Nadu.
"Chennai and its neighbourhood areas experienced intense and widespread rainfall during the night of 17 October 2026, with heavy to very heavy rainfall and isolated extreme rainfall reported over parts of the region. The rainfall activity was associated with an upper-air cyclonic circulation over north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south coastal Andhra Pradesh, extending between 4.5 km and 5.8 km above mean sea level", it said.
The cyclonic circulation enhanced wind convergence and moisture transport over north coastal Tamil Nadu. These favourable atmospheric conditions supported the development and intensification of deep convective clouds, including cumulonimbus clouds resulting in intense and widespread rainfall over Chennai and adjoining areas during the night, it said.
On Cloudburst criterion and assessment of the rainfall event, it said in India, a cloudburst is conventionally described as an event in which 100 mm or more of rainfall occurs within one hour over a small area, typically around 20–30 square kilometres. Such intense rainfall is generally associated with deep convective clouds and can lead to rapid surface runoff, waterlogging and urban flooding.
Based on the prevailing meteorological conditions and the observed rainfall pattern associated with the cyclonic circulation, the rainfall over Chennai and its neighbourhood appears to have resulted from organised, widespread convective activity associated with the cyclonic circulation, rather than an isolated, highly localised cloudburst event.
The India Meteorological Department continues to monitor meteorological conditions and rainfall observations across the region. The public are advised to follow official IMD weather updates and take appropriate precautions in areas prone to waterlogging and urban flooding.
Parrys corner area recorded a maximum of 36 cms of rain upto 0830 hrs this morning, followed by Kathivakkam 34, Chennai Central
27 , Tiruvottriyur 22, MGR Nagar 19, CD Hospital Tondiarpet and Perambur 18 each, Tondiarpet 17, Vadapalani, Chennai Collectorate 16 each, Basin Bridge, Nungambakkam, YMCA Nandanam, Chennai Airport and Alandur 15 each, Semmedu in Villupuram district,
Ice House and Anna UNiversity 14 each, Walljah in Ranipet district, Meenambakkam and Madhavaram in Chennai 13 each,
Manali, Madipakkam, Manali New town, Saligramam, Valasaravakkam in Chennai, Red Hills (dist Tiruvallur) , Manampoondi (dist Villupuram) , Gummidipoondi (dist Tiruvallur), Marakkanam (dist Villupuram) , RSCL-3 Valathy (dist Villupuram) 12 each, Madipakkam (dist Chennai) , Anna University ARG (dist Chennai) , Arcot (dist Ranipet) , Valasaravakkam (dist Chennai), 11 each.
DGP Office (dist Chennai) , DSCL Eraiyur (dist Kallakurichi) , Cheyyar (dist Tiruvannamalai) , Ayanavaram Taluk Office (dist Chennai) , Alangudi (dist Pudukkottai) , Ariyalur Camp Area (dist Kallakurichi) , Sankaridurg (dist Salem) Ariyalur (dist Kallakurichi) and Aminjikarai (dist Chennai) 10 each.
UNI GV 1450
Tags: #Rains batter Chennai# suburbs# Met office attributes to cumulonimbus clouds# convective activity
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