The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Four districts in southern Tamil Nadu have witnessed extremely heavy rainfall – “historically heavy rainfall”, as chief minister M.K. Stalin put it – over the past two days.
Floods have ensued, with the Tamiraparani river that flows through Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts running in spate.
Several towns and villages have been inundated.
As of the morning of Tuesday (December 19), more than 12,000 people have been housed in relief centres, India Today reported, adding that three people were also killed in rain-related incidents.
The town of Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi district recorded 95 centimetres of rainfall between December 17-18, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai said.
Experts say this is higher than the area’s annual rainfall.
Tiruchendur, another town in the same district, recorded 69 cm of rainfall.
“Historic rainfall”
On December 17, Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi recorded 932 mm in 24 hours, said Pradeep John, who goes by the name ‘Tamil Nadu Weatherman’ on X (formerly Twitter).
“This is more than their annual rainfall falling in a day,” he posted. “This is the highest ever rainfall recorded in plains ever in Tamil Nadu in 24 hrs & the 2nd highest rainfall after the Kakkachi (manjolai) 965 mm recorded in 1992.”
Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli district recorded a whopping 300 mm till 8.30 pm on December 17, he also posted.
“It is now the wettest day ever for Palayamkottai in 150 years since 1871.”
A resident in Muthiyapuram village in Vilathikulam in Thoothukudi district said that they hadn’t seen such rains in the past 50 years.
Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, manager of geoanalytics at the World Resources Institute India, posted on X that though heavy rains were predicted for southern Tamil Nadu, the “extreme nature” of it was not – weather models have limitations in prediction, he said.
He added that among other things, a detailed map of low-lying and flood-prone areas in the state is required, as is a long term plan for the identified vulnerable areas.
In a 24-hour span from 8.30 am on December 18 onwards, several locations in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts recorded significant rainfall, per a press release by the IMD on December 19.
The army, air force, navy and coast guard have been pressed into action to deal with the floods caused by the heavy rains.
Air force helicopters have been deployed to evacuate people from flood-stricken areas.
Train services in the southern part of the state have also been affected. The News Minute reported that after around 36 hours of being stranded, passengers of the Tiruchendur-Chennai express were rescued by the National Disaster Response Force on December 19.
CM Stalin in Delhi to meet PM Modi
M.K. Stalin is currently in New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, to “request adequate assistance from the Union government to restore normalcy”.
“Following the unprecedented rains caused by #CycloneMichaung, which affected Chennai and its neighbouring districts earlier this month, the southern districts of Tamil Nadu have now experienced historically high rain over the past few days. This has severely impacted the livelihoods of many and caused extensive damage to infrastructure,” he posted on X.
As of December 19, the Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre has also predicted isolated heavy rainfall in the districts of Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari in the south of Tamil Nadu, as well as in Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Pudukottai districts.