Rain batters Chennai

Water has been released from lakes around Cuddalore.

Defence forces have called off aerial sorties for rescue operations in flood-hit Chennai which is limping back to normalcy as water levels have started going down. In the past few days, through a coordinated team of defence forces and NDRF, the IAF airlifted nearly 1,500 people to safety.

With rain-ravaged Chennai limping back to normal, the railway traffic on the Vijayawada-Chennai section has been restored and trains are running as per schedule, a senior railway official said.

Security warning issued to residents along the banks of Kiliyaaru river.

Crippling floods in the city have caused huge losses to the IT industry. IT insiders have pegged the losses at $5-10 million for mid-size firms and $40-50 million for large companies.

Cognizant, Infy, TCS and other IT firms have been organizing buses every hour to send employees to Bangalore.

Around 2000 employees of each of these companies have already left to work out of Bangalore.

After a brief lull, intermittent rains lashed the city and its suburbs on Sunday, while the weatherman predicted more showers in Tamil Nadu over the next 48 hours.

Rain-battered Cuddalore is likely to get heavy to very heavy showers, Meteorological department said, adding that Sunday's showers were due to a twin weather system, including formation of a new trough.

Call 1948 from your Airtel number for assistance.

The closure of Chennai airport has been extended till December 8, the Air India said on Saturday even as Airports Authority of India (AAI)was monitoring the situation to take a decision on resuming normal operations.

At least 1070 conservancy staffs, 25 conservancy inspectors, 44 conservancty supervisors from other corporations and municipalities have been roped in by the Chennai corporation.

67 tankers have reached Chennai: 22 tankers from Sangagiri, 25 tankers from Trichy, 10 tankers from Bengaluru, 10 tankers from Chitoor.

1. Train No.16031 Chennai Central – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Andaman express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 5.15am. 2. Train No.12007 Chennai Central – Mysore Shatabdi express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 6am 3. Train No.12077 Chennai Central – Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 7.35am 4.Train No.12639 Chennai Central – Bangalore Brindavan express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 7.50am 5.Train No.12842 Chennai Central – Howrah Coromandal express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 8.45 am 6. Train No.16003 Chennai Central – Nagarsol express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 09.15am 7.Train No.12615 Chennai Central – New Delhi Grand Trunk express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 7.15pm 8.Train No.16021 Chennai Central – Mysore Kaveri express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 9pm 9.Train No.12671 Chennai Central – Coimbatore / Mettupalayam Nilagiri express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 9.15pm 10. Train No.12621 Chennai Central – New Delhi Tamil Nadu express scheduled to leave Chennai Central at 10pm