Chennai weather: Intense rain, cloudburst reported in city's Manali area; Flight ops impacted

Chennai witnessed intense overnight rainfall on Saturday, leading to a cloudburst over the Manali neighbourhood in North Chennai, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC).

The heavy downpour disrupted flight operations, with several incoming flights diverted to Bengaluru, officials told PTI.

The RMC said the city recorded extremely heavy rainfall between 10 pm and 12 midnight. "Three extremely heavy, 8 very heavy and 28 heavy rainfall events were recorded during the 24 hours ending 8.30 am of August 31," a bulletin issued by the department said, as reported by PTI.


Manali and its surrounding areas were the worst hit. Manali registered 27 cm of rain, New Manali Town 26 cm, and Wimco Nagar 23 cm. The bulletin noted that Manali (Division 19) alone recorded 106.2 mm between 10–11 pm and 126.6 mm between 11 pm–12 midnight, confirming the cloudburst.

The heavy showers impacted air traffic at Chennai International Airport. Flights from Bengaluru, Delhi, France and Mangaluru scheduled to land in Chennai were diverted to Bengaluru in the early hours of Sunday. Airport authorities confirmed to PTI that passengers were later flown back to Chennai after the weather cleared.

The Meteorological Department forecast said light to moderate rainfall is likely to continue in isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal in the next 24 hours. Strong winds with speeds up to 50 kmph are also expected in coastal areas, according to the bulletin cited by PTI.

This is the second time in less than 10 days that Chennai and nearby districts such as Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai have experienced heavy overnight rainfall. On August 23, similar showers had caused waterlogging in several areas, PTI added.