Chaos across Tamil Nadu as rail and road services in tatters

There was a visible dip in State-run bus services. Only fewer buses were operated in suburbs and train services were also affected.

Railway sources said the Basin Bridge yard was flooded, which led to disruption in routing trains, in and out of the Chennai Central Railway Station and a long-distance train from Thiruvananthapuram had to be halted at Tirunindravur in the northern suburb.

Suburban train services in the Tambaram-Beach line was affected for some time as railway tracks were covered by sheets of water.

Rainwater is being pumped out in affected areas, railway sources said.

An official release meanwhile said "Dr MGR Chennai Central-Mangalore Express Special scheduled to leave at 4.20 pm on Sunday is rescheduled to leave at 7.30 pm" due to late running of pairing train, of about 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Another train, bound for Jaipur would leave at 8.30 pm instead of 5.40 pm, the release said.

There were traffic diversions due to waterlogging and uprooted trees in several locations including the arterial EVR Salai, and subways witnessed inundation up to a height of several feet.

The police said the traffic movement is slow in view of waterlogging and advised the people to be cautious.

Several people said they found it difficult to get cabs or autorickshaws while some said drivers working for cab aggregators declined acceptance for travel.

Motorcycles, scooters and autorickshaws could be spotted stranded in many locations.

Civic and Public Works Department personnel worked to pump water out in inundated areas and also placed sandbags in locations including the Anna Nagar Peripheral Hospital campus.

As many as 59 flights including 13 international flights destined to Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai from Chennai airport were delayed for hours due to the incessant rains in the city and the suburbs.

Flights to Oman, Dhaka, London, Kuwait were delayed by up to an hour, while there was no disturbance in the arrival of flights till 3 pm. The extra time taken to load luggage and late arrival of passengers are said to have caused the delay, said airport sources.

Domestic flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Coimbatore were also delayed. Since Meenambakkam and its surroundings received lesser rains, runways were not water-logged.

However, passengers reaching the airport from the Metro station had a tough time as the walkalator was waterlogged due to leak from the ceiling.

The Greater Chennai Traffic police said that six subways in the city were closed due to waterlogging and traffic was diverted. Gengu Reddy subway near EVR Periyar Salai, Duraisamy subway and Madley subway in T Nagar, Vyasarpadi subway, Ganeshapuram subway and Villivakkam subway were under the water.