The Indian Meteorological Department on Saturday said that the intensive rainfall patterns in Chennai are likely to continue for the next three days.

After torrential downpour claimed eight lives in Tamil Nadu and threw normal life out of gear across the state on Friday, the Indian Meteorological Department on Saturday said that the intensive rainfall patterns are likely to continue for the next three days.

Speaking to Firstpost, S Balachandran, Director of the Area Cyclone Warning Centre, IMD Chennai, said, “Two separate weather systems — one being the trough between south Andhra Pradesh coast and the Tamil Nadu coast, and the other being the upper air cyclonic circulation near Gulf of Mannar and Sri Lanka — are responsible for the current scenario.”

The combination of the two weather systems is causing the persistence of Northeast Monsoon over Tamil Nadu, he said.

“In the next 24 hours, widespread rainfall is expected along the state’s Bay of Bengal coast, and a few places might experience heavy rainfall. The regions adjoining the coastal areas will receive moderate rainfall, whereas we do not expect much rainfall activity in western regions like Coimbatore as the weather systems haven’t reached that part yet,” Balachandran said.

In Chennai, few spells of rain and thunderstorms starting Saturday evening are expected to hit the city, and some of these spells may be intensive, he said. “This first spell of the Northeast Monsoon will gradually subside by 6 November in Chennai, and sometime in the next three days in other parts of the state.”

Educational institutions have remained shut since 31 October in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts.

The intensity of the rainfall over the next day will be similar to what was observed in the last 24 hours, but the weather systems are expected to weaken after that period, Balachandran said.

In the last 24 hours too, the IMD official said that coastal regions received significant rainfall, and the intensity of the downpours decreased as one moved west on the map.

“Nagapattinam district received the highest rainfall — 27 cm — and Chennai received an average rainfall of 7 cm across the city on Friday,” Balachandran said.

Heavy showers battered several parts of Chennai, such as Mylapore, Foreshore Estate, Tambaram, Chrompet and Pallavaram.

A total of 10 IMD stations recorded heavy rainfall while two recorded very heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu over the past 24 hours, Balachandran said.