Chennai climate: Why rain paralyses regular life; the best way to mitigate disasters | Chennai Information

Heavy site visitors jam at a bit of Poonamallee Excessive Street in Chennai. TOI

CHENNAI: At the same time as Tamil Nadu capital Chennai obtained heavy rain with thunder since early hours of Thursday, the district noticed the utmost quantity of rain in a day in six years. The torrential rains and extreme flooding, particularly in Chennai, have gotten a nightmare for Indian cities.
So, what are the explanations for hellish situations following torrential rain?
Whereas Nungambakkam obtained 133.4mm rain until 8.30am and Meenambakkam acquired 53.8mm, this was the very best quantity of rain town has obtained in a single day in October for the reason that 161.9mm recorded on October 18, 2014.
After the northeast monsoon commenced over the area, heavy rain and thunderstorm will proceed for the following two hours, as per Met predictions.
A cyclonic circulation over Southwest Bay of Bengal off north Tamil Nadu coast persists and now extends as much as 3.1 km above imply sea stage. That is triggering rain and powerful breeze.
Blame it on northeast monsoon and ‘local weather change’
“India’s cities are unprepared for excessive climate occasions” like rains, droughts and cyclonic storms which have gotten extra frequent and intense, Chennai-based author and social activist Nityanand Jayaraman wrote on BBC web site in 2015.
“Many components of India undergo flooding yearly throughout the annual monsoon rains from June to September. The northeast monsoon has been notably vigorous over southern India and extra so in Tamil Nadu state, of which Chennai is the capital,” Jayaraman wrote.
Among the many key causes of flooding resulting in hellish situations for Chennai and its suburbs have been constructing “plans and with no regard to water flows, and with out anticipating excessive climate occasions” on the a part of planners, builders, directors and even frequent folks and Chennai Company and Chennai Metropolitan Growth Authority.
Unlawful constructions, rampant tree reducing and discarded plastic washed into rivers are one other bane of the large cities, Chennai being no exception.
When the heaviest rainfall in over a century brought on huge flooding throughout Tamil Nadu in 2015, driving hundreds from their properties, shutting auto factories and paralysing the airport in capital Chennai, Reuters quoted PM Narendra Modi, as blaming “local weather change for the deluge, injecting urgency into the controversy at international local weather talks in Paris and highlighting the vulnerability of tropical nations like India to excessive climate”.
Chennai, India’s fourth most populous metropolis, is a significant auto manufacturing and IT outsourcing hub with Ford Motor, Daimler, Hyundai and Nissan and US listed outsourcing agency Cognizant amongst some large names.
Media studies have highlighted how Cooum River, Adyar River and Buckingham Canal – serving as the primary rain water drain for town – have seen encroachments. The financial price of the deluge can’t be overemphasised. In 2015, the Assocham put the monetary loss as a result of record-breaking rainfall in Chennai and a number of other components of Tamil Nadu at Rs 15,000 crore.
Per capita greenhouse fuel emission
Chennai being one of many cities the place per capita greenhouse fuel emission falls within the greater class, an Indian Institute of Know-how – Madras (IIT-M) analysis concluded in June 2020 that rise in carbon emission could result in excessive rainfall in Chennai, including, the world affected is prone to broaden.
‘Future is ominous’: Higher city planning methods want of the hour
Whereas international warming has destroyed the idea of the monsoon, as per Raghu Murtugudde, an atmospheric scientist on the College of Maryland, local weather change isn’t the one perpetrator, says the New York Occasions. “Many years of greed and mismanagement are way more culpable. The plush forests that assist to carry the rains proceed to be cleared,” NYT reported in November 2019 whereas speaking of India’s water woes. The longer term is ominous for India’s 1.3 billion folks. “By 2050, the World Financial institution estimates, erratic rainfall, mixed with rising temperatures, stand to “depress the residing requirements of practically half the nation’s inhabitants,” NYT added.
Smithsonianmag.com, whereas suggesting “higher city planning methods to face up to disasters like flooding”, had a message for the southern Indian metropolis: Chennai can take a web page from one other disaster-hit metropolis: Guiuan, Philippines.
“The town, which sustained extreme harm throughout Storm Haiyan, is embracing the fact of its storm-swept standing and has determined to construct a storm-resistant faculty full with neighborhood emergency middle,” Smithsonian Journal web site wrote in December 2015.