Heavy rain lashes Chennai

Schools in Chennai to be closed on Tuesday due to heavy rains that lashed the city on Monday

Several schools in Chennai were closed an hour early on Monday -- by 2pm -- due to heavy rain. The education department made the announcement on Monday afternoon asking all schools in Chennai district to close early.

Rain did not disrupt flight operations at Chennai airport. A few arrivals and departures were delayed briefly.

The IMD has predicted that a few interior districts are also likely to get heavy to very heavy rain over the next 24 hours.

The Indian Meteorological Department on Monday forecast heavy or very heavy rainfall in Chennai and eight other coastal districts over the next 24 hours.

The IMD has predicted that the city and the rest of the state will continue to get rainfall for the next five days (until Friday).

Traffic snarls reported at major roads including Anna Salai, EVR Periyar Salai, Santhome high road, LB Road Adyar.

Locals struggle through a waterlogged road in Chennai.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"> <p dir="ltr" lang="et"> Northeast monsoon lash Chennai <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChennaiRains?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChennaiRains</a> <a href="https://t.co/lg1gOTJZ5W">pic.twitter.com/lg1gOTJZ5W</a></p> &mdash; TOI Cities (@TOICitiesNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/TOICitiesNews/status/924902939344347136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2017</a></blockquote>

Chennai airport has recorded 5cm rainfall till 8.30am today. Nagapattinam district has recorded the maximum of 9cm rain.

Chennai and other coastal districts are set to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours, says IMD officer Balachandran.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TamilNadu?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TamilNadu</a>: Waterlogging in areas of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chennai?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chennai</a> after heavy rainfall in the region <a href="https://t.co/Jhvsln4ojM">pic.twitter.com/Jhvsln4ojM</a></p> &mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/924891072869761030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2017</a></blockquote>

After a brief respite, it has started pouring again in Chennai.

IMD has predicted that rainfall is likely to continue on Tuesday as well.

MJO phenomenon at work

The Met office has predicted a maximum and minimum temperature of 32 degrees Celsius and 24 degrees Celsius, respectively, today

Commuters had a tough time in negotiating on waterlogged roads in Velachery locality.

Waterlogged roads in Chennai's Velachery locality.

As per the climatological table (1981-2010), the city gets, on average, 37cm rainfall over 11 and a half rainy days during November.

Weather experts say that the state is poised to get excess rainfall this northeast monsoon due to a favourable Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO)

The city and the rest of the state are likely to get above normal rainfall this northeast monsoon, weathermen said. The NE monsoon, which has brought moderate rainfall in the southern and delta districts on Sunday, arrived in the city on Monday.

The IMD has forecast that the northeast monsoon would be most likely normal though it had been deficient last year.

Met office predicted on Sunday that the sky condition would be generally cloudy in the coming two days.

Satellite image shows heavy cloud over Chennai

Northeast monsoon which brings most of the rainfall to the state has been active in the last two days, following the withdrawal of southwest monsoon.