Cloudburst brings intense rainfall over Chennai, flights diverted to Bengaluru airport

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Chennai received intense overnight rain, and there was a cloudburst over Manali, a northern neighbourhood of the city, Regional Meteorological Centre said.

Some flights scheduled to arrive at the Chennai airport were diverted to Bengaluru, according to airport authorities.

As per the Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin on Sunday, Chennai received an intense rain between 10 pm to 12 midnight on Saturday, with North Chennai receiving the extremely heavy rainfall.

"Three extremely heavy, 8 very heavy and 28 heavy rainfall events were recorded during the 24-hour ending 8.30 am of August 31 with Manali, New Manali Town and Wimco Nagar recording extremely heavy rainfall of 27 cm, 26 cm and 23 cm, respectively," a bulletin issued by the department said.

As such, a cloudburst occurred over Manali area and neighbourhood with Zone 2. Manali (Division 19) recorded 106.2 mm rainfall during 10-11 pm and 126.6 mm rainfall during 11 pm - 12 midnight on Saturday, the bulletin said.

According to the airport sources, flights from Bengaluru, Delhi, France and Mangaluru scheduled to arrive Chennai were diverted to Bengaluru due to heavy rainfall in the wee hours of Sunday.

However, after the weather was clear in Chennai, the passengers were flown back to the city from Bengaluru by different flights, airport authorities said.

In its forecast for the Chennai and neighbouring districts, the Meteorological bulletin said light to moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal area during the next 24 hours. Strong wind gusting to 40-50 kmph is likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal area, it said.

On August 23, many places in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai districts received moderate to heavy overnight rains.