There is an unusual rush at grocery shops to buy provisions, milk, veggies and snacks in view of the impending cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu coast and the red alert for extremely heavy rain issued for Chennai and three neighbouring three districts on October 17.

Preceding the red alert, heavy to very heavy rain has also been announced for Tuesday (October 16) itself.

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Residents of the posh South Chennai in Velachery have started parking their cars on the flyovers in the locality and nearby for safety. Videos of owners parking their SUVs on flyovers have gone viral on social media. Prices of  vegetables have skyrocketed with many groceries turning empty by late evening in many localities.

Call it the Michaung effect. The disastrous deluge of December last year still afresh in memory, there is panic buying and the run to keep their cars in safety. For, it was South Chennai, particularly Velachery and Pallikaranai which were battered the most in the deluge. Videos of high end cars and SUVs being washed away by floods caused by torrential rains, one of the highest on a single day, had gone viral taking the internet by storm.

On December 4 and 5, 2023, Chennai received 468 mm rainfall in 48 hours and the administration was left aghast as the preparations of the Storm Water Drainage and relief works proved inadequate. Many parts of the city went without electricity for two days. Such a copious flow was slightly less than half of the annual rainfall for the city. The situation was similar in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

While Velachery, with malls and apartments, stands on a lake obstructing a tributary of the Adyar river, most of the residential buildings in Pallikaranai are encroachments of the marshlands. Now, the marshlands, visited by birds from far and near, had shrunk with environmentalists campaigning for saving the remaining area. Many residential areas in the city were under knee deep water with north Chennai being battered. Areas around the iconic Anna Flyover (formerly Gemini circle), Nungambakkam and the arterial Anna Salai too were not spared, leaving a trail of destruction. No wonder, people have become wiser now.