Red alert in Chennai after extreme rainfall, flooding in several areas

Chennai, one of India’s largest metropolitan regions with over 8.6 million residents, is currently under a red alert due to extremely heavy rainfall predicted during the northeast monsoon season. The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai has forecast over 20 cm of rain in a 24-hour period starting Sunday afternoon.

Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai also issued an orange alert for neighbouring Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts and western districts of Nilgiris, Coimbatore and Theni district in the same period.

This surge in precipitation is part of the active northeast monsoon impacting Tamil Nadu and adjacent regions.

As per reports, Parry’s Corner in Chennai received 36 cm of rain within 24 hours, with significant downpours also recorded in surrounding localities. The Greater Chennai Corporation said despite these intense weather conditions, authorities claimed all 22 subways had been cleared of waterlogging and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force (TNDRF) teams have helped keep the situation under control with no major casualties reported so far.

The heavy rains recall the city’s vulnerability highlighted during historic floods such as those in 2015, which impacted over four million people and exposed critical gaps in preparedness. At that time, floodwaters disrupted daily life, closed schools, and paralysed industrial centres, underscoring Chennai’s rapid urban growth coupled with inadequate drainage and disaster management strategies. Since then, lessons learned have driven efforts to improve resilience but challenges remain significant given the increasing frequency and severity of monsoon-driven flooding tied to climate variability.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Joseph Vijay reviewed relief efforts and flood-prevention measures at the Integrated State Command and Control Centre in the GCC's Ripon Building.

He instructed officials to inspect areas that had experienced waterlogging in the past and step up preventive works to avoid a recurrence, official sources said.

He also asked all departments to maintain strict coordination and execute relief measures diligently in anticipation of further heavy rain warnings, the sources added.