Historical ravaging flooding in Chennai, India

Southeast India was devastated this December by deadly flooding after the heaviest monsoon rainfall in a century

Chennai, home to 8.6 million people is also a key industrial city in southern India.

The heavy 24 hours rainfall registered an incredible 13.54 inches of rain, approximately twice what it receives in an entire month. The recent rain was the heaviest torrential since 1901.

This year's monsoon season powered by El Nino' effects turned the water levels into a catastrophe. Unfortunately, almost 300 people have died and thousands have been displaced.

City streets were devastated and flooded, the electricity was shut down and the airport was closed. The flooding was so severe that area might not dry for weeks or even months.

The India monsoon has two yearly boosts: the summertime southwest monsoon and the wintertime northeast monsoon. Bob Henson at Weather Underground explains the effects:

“For most of the nation, the northeast monsoon has a drying effect, since the winds are bringing cool, dry air from interior Asia.

“But as the north-easterlies pass over the Bay of Bengal during autumn, they pick up moisture that is often deposited across far southeast India. Chennai typically receives more than half its moisture this way.”

Usually during monsoon, Chennai receives around 55 inches of rain. This year, in November and December only, the city took over 60 inches in some of the heaviest rainfall in southern India in a century.