Chennai - it has been raining !

It has rained somewhat heavily and according to India Meteorological Department – Chennai city has received more than 15 cms of rain ! 

Most likely you sang this rhyme in your school days ! - "Rain, Rain, Go Away" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19096 and many different variations of it have been recorded.  The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. 

There is a short story in the same name too,  by American writer Isaac Asimov. A fantasy rather than a science fiction story, it was based on an idea by Bob Mills, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, but rejected by him. It was instead published in the September 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories.  The story concerns a seemingly perfect family, the Sakkaros, who become neighbours of another family, the Wrights. The Wrights are puzzled at the great lengths the Sakkaros go to avoid any contact with water !  .. .. in climax,  the downpour happens and the Sakkaros are hit by the rain, causing the faces to blur and their bodies to dissolve, leaving only their clothes and sticky heaps. Mrs. Wright is unable to stop her sentence "...made of sugar and afraid they would melt".  [any connection of Tamil sakkarai with Sakkaros !] 

Southwest monsoon has withdrawn from the entire country today, the 15th October 2024, says IMD. Simultaneously, the Northeast monsoon rainfall activity has commenced over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, South Interior Karnataka and Kerala. Yesterday’s low pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal became a well marked low pressure area over the central part of south Bay of Bengal at 0530 IST of today, the 15th October, 2024 and persisted over the same region at 0830 IST of today. It is likely to move west-northwestwards and concentrate into a Depression over southwest Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours. It is likely to continue to move westnorthwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during subsequent 24 hours. Yesterday’s cyclonic circulation over westcentral Bay of Bengal off south Andhra Pradesh coast extending upto 5.8 km above mean sea level tilting southwestwards with height persists. Yesterday’s trough from centre of the Depression over westcentral Arabian Sea off Oman coast to Comorin area across south Kerala between 3.1 km & 5.8 km above mean sea level has become less marked. 

Rain holiday has been extended for all educational institutions and government offices other than essential services in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai and Chengalpattu, for another day.  These institutions and offices will be shut on October 16, according to a statement from Chief Minister’s  office. However, essential services provided by the rescue services department, local government departments, dairy department, drinking water supply department, hospitals, dispensaries, banks, financial institutions, electricity department, transport of vegetables and other essential commodities, transport, Chennai Metro Rail, MRTS, Railways, Airport, petrol stations, hotels and restaurants, and disaster recovery and relief departments, will function as normal. 

According to IEN,  rains triggered by a low pressure area over south Bay of Bengal sunk parts of Chennai and its neighbouring districts even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday announced the onset of Northeast Monsoon activity. Normal life was thrown out of gear in the city as heavy bouts of downpour and spells of showers continued throughout the day flooding the low-lying areas. The initial rains of the season once again exposed inadequacy in the planning of the city. The fact that Chennai has never been a pedestrian-friendly city and the planners had failed to keep people's welfare in mind when they went for big-ticket development projects was once again there to see. Even the arterial roads went under sheets of water for a lack of a proper drainage system. As usual the common people were the ones to suffer.

 

Steve Roud or other index may not be relevant to us – it is always the rainfall in our neighbourhood and how it increases our watertable.  At Triplicane, one looks at the beautiful temple pond of Sri Parthasarathi swami thirukkovil, ‘Kairavini’ – here are 2 photos taken this evening, showing good increase in water level.  

With regards – S Sampathkumar
15.10.2024