After being battered by heavy rains, Chennai city had some respite from the rains, following bright sunshine today, friday. The weather office said the deep depression, which lay centred 150 km northeast of Chennai, was moving in a northwesterly direction and was likely to cross between Nellore and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Chennai experienced 42 cm of rain in 40 hours between Wednesday and Thursday. The rain, which crippled normal life, has brought copious inflows to the lakes supplying water to the city.

The death toll in rain related incidents has gone up to 65, with one more death reported due to electrocution in the city. Over 50,000 persons have been evacuated from low lying areas, housed in corporation shools and provided one lakh food packets.