HEAVY rains battered Chennai on Friday, bringing normal life to a standstill and causing widespread damage to roads, and probems for vehicles, even as the weatherman predicted that the downpour would last till Sunday morning in coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Official s o u r c e s maintained that rain related accidents had taken a toll of just one life since the N o r t h We s N o r t h We s t monsoon set in a few days ago but there are reports that 13 people have died in the state since the skies opened up in the beginning of this month. Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin convened a meeting to review arrangements made by various departments to tackle the situation and gave instructions to officials to take immediate action. In Chennai, waterlogged roads threw vehicular movement out of gear, leading to traffic jams at various places. Motorists had a hard time navigating the flooded roads, unable to distinguish the waterlogged pathways from the overflowing drains. With polythene and other litter clogging the drains, sewage overflowed on to streets, and Corporation e m p l o ye e s we r e seen manually c l e a r i n g choked un d e r g ro u n d drains. Pe destrians and two wheelers suffered the worst, wad ing through the dirty mix of rainwater and sewage. Clearly exposing the failure of government agencies in being monsoon-prepared were the pothole-pockmarked roads, made worse by the downpour, especially in suburban areas, where several stretches have become danger zones for vehicles and pedestrians. However, flights took off and trains chugged out without much ado.