Heavy overnight rain left several parts of Chennai waterlogged on Wednesday, uprooted trees and damaged roads, disrupting the morning commute and exposing persistent drainage and road-restoration problems in neighbourhoods across the city.
Waterlogging was reported on Bazullah Road in T Nagar, Taramani-Velachery Road, Old Mahabalipuram Road, Aziz Nagar, Subramaniyan Nagar and School Road near Valluvar Kottam. Several locations were drained by 11 am, but water remained for longer in AGS Colony, 3rd Main Road and interior streets of Velachery.
In Kodambakkam, trees were uprooted on Subramania Nagar 2nd Street and adjoining roads. Trees also fell on Police Quarters Road in T Nagar and on 11th Street in TNHB Colony, Korattur. The fallen trees were later removed, according to the report.
Residents said the drainage network in some neighbourhoods could not handle the volume of runoff after the night-long rain. S Gopi, secretary of the Subramania Nagar Civic and Neighbourhood Welfare Association, said runoff from Railway Border Road moves through Valliammal Garden Main Road and Second Street before passing through a railway culvert towards T Nagar. It collects in a sump, where a 25-horsepower dewatering motor pumps it out.
Gopi said the disposal capacity was insufficient after a heavy downpour and that water was expected to drain by 3 pm. He urged officials to take preventive action instead of deploying pumps only after water had accumulated.
In AGS Colony, residents said Minister R Kumar and Greater Chennai Corporation officials inspected flood-affected areas. Geetha Ganesh, secretary of the AGS Colony Residents’ Welfare Association, said the minister directed officials to deploy additional tractor-mounted motor pumps and maintain round-the-clock monitoring. Residents also renewed their request for a scientific study by experts from IIT Madras and Anna University to identify the causes of flooding and prepare a permanent mitigation plan.
Rain-related road damage was compounded by unfinished utility works in other parts of the city. G Manivasagam, president of the Secretariat Colony Residents’ Welfare Association, said Sakthi Srinivasan Road had been dug up for Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board pipeline work, which residents said had progressed slowly for six months. He said Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus services connecting Secretariat Colony with Island Ground, Royapuram, T Nagar, Guduvanchery and Koyambedu had been suspended for six months because buses could not use the slushy, potholed road.
Civic activist Ramesh Ramadoss said pipeline work by the Metro Water board had been completed four months earlier in parts of Ward 48, but road relaying had not been finished. He identified Ekambaram Street and Ramanujam Koodam Street among the roads that remained damaged after the utility works.
The immediate civic response includes additional pumping, monitoring and removal of fallen trees. The longer-term measures sought by residents involve drainage studies, adequate water-disposal capacity and the completion of road restoration after underground utility works.
