While incessant rain continues to lash Chennai and major parts of Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted further rain till the end of this week.
An intense low pressure system in the south-west Bay of Bengal and adjoining Sri lanka off Tamil Nadu’s coast has triggered the heavy rain. It may also cause scattered heavy rain in Kerala, Union Territory of Puducherry and some parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that Chennai’s deluge was not due to the climate change, but was a natural calamity. “What has happened in Chennai over the last ten days is a very serious situation, and this calamity needs to be tackled effectively,” the Minister said.
Expressing concern over the frequency of irregular monsoons, the Minister called for immediate steps to minimise damage during such situations. “We need to keep our drains clean and open, and, we must allow water to flow naturally, even in urbanised India,” Javadekar said.
According to IMD Director lS Rathore, Tamil Nadu saw 35 cm of rainfall on Wednesday. “Its intensity, however, will decrease in the next 48 hours and further by 72 hours, but it is likely to continue for five to seven days,” he said. The reservoirs in the region are already full, because of which the water is filling the low-lying areas. Residents have been asked to shift to safer locations, he added.
Meanwhile, Chennai received 104.9 cm of rainfall in November, the highest since November 1918, when it received 108.8 cm of rain.
Fishermen, particularly along the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, have been warned of strong surface winds with speed reaching 45-55 KMPH and advised against venturing into the sea.
As per IMD data, winter rain (north-east monsoon) from the months of October to December accounts for about 48 per cent of the annual rainfall for Tamil Nadu.
However, in this season, the State as a whole has already received 50 per cent rainfall in excess of its normal of 438.2mm.
Meanwhile, the experts are arguing on the possible causes of such abnormal rain. According to them, the heightened impact of El Nino this year caused due to the rise in temperature in the Pacific Ocean caused several typhoons this year. A warmer Pacific combined with a cool Indian Ocean may have caused extreme rainfall in the State.
The north-east monsoon is typically more intense when the effect of El Nino is more pronounced. In 1997 too, when Tamil Nadu saw heavy rain, the El Nino effect was recorded as the strongest in decades.
The experts, however, pointed out that not enough research is available to ascertain the impact of El Nino on north-east monsoon in the country.