As historical rainfall has lashed out Chennai, the Madras High Court has on Tuesday come down hard on the Greater Chennai Corporation and the previous ADMK regime and scathingly asked a question, 'What were you doing since 2015?'. The high court has apparently referred to the 2015 floods that devasted Chennai and etched as a scar in the city's history. The memories of the 2015 floods still haunt Chennaiites and the ADMK regime led by J Jayalalithaa was in power when Chennai and its suburbs were devasted by the floods and lack of proper urban planning. 

The ADMK was in power for a decade from 2011 to 2021 and as Chennai Corporation falls under the Department of Municipal Administration of the Tamil Nadu Government, the High Court has slammed the civic body on what has been done in the last six years to address such disaster. The strong comments from the High Court have come when the city and several parts of the state have been issued with a red alert and a warning of extremely heavy rainfall on November 10 and 11. 

The High Court has observed that the corporation has failed to take adequate measures to prevent the inundation of the city. In a warning tone, the High Court has said that it would take suo motu cognizance of the matter of heavy rainfall if the waterlogging situation was not brought under control. The court has also noted, "For half of the year, we are made to cry for water and for another half, we are made to die in water." At least four persons died in the rain-related incidents in Chennai, Theni, and Madurai districts so far and 16 cattle had also died. 

The authorities had on Monday said that around 60 houses were damaged and a red alert with a warning of extremely heavy rainfall was spelt for Chennai and Tamil Nadu, particularly to the people who are living in low-lying areas. It has been predicted that Tamil Nadu would record extremely heavy rainfall on November 10 and 11 as the sequel of the low-pressure area which will be formed on November 9 on the Bay of Bengal and it will intensify on November 10 and 11 when it nears the eastern coast. 

The warning was also given to Puducherry and the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. The regional meteorological centre has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next two days and said that the rainfall will drop gradually after November 11. The state government has been carrying out the measures to evacuate the people from the coastal areas and they have been sheltered in temporary residences while educational institutions and various establishments had declared a holiday in several districts in light of heavy rainfall. 

In its official bulletin, the meteorological department has said the cyclone circulation over the South Bay of Bengal and adjoining the South Andaman sea, extending up to 5.8 kilometres above the sea level, persists. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is very likely to form over the southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 24 hours. It is likely to move west-northwestward, concentrate into a depression and reach near north Tamil Nadu coast by November 11, early morning and bring widespread rainfall in several regions of the state. 

It has been reported that as many as 237 huts were partially damaged while 26 huts were devasted fully in Tamil Nadu. The government has said 37 districts received rainfall and the state average was 14.2 millimetres (1.42 cm) for the past 24 hours. So far since the start of the northeast monsoon last month, Tamil Nadu has recorded about 43% rainfall above normal. Besides carrying out relief works in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran said that two teams of NDRF have been deployed to Madurai and one team each in Chengalpet and Tiruvallur.