--- title: See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down an Airport description: It received the equivalent of a month of rain in a single day canonical: https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/ author: Olivier Laurent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-04T00:13:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:49.380Z article:section: World og:title: See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down This Indian Airport og:description: It received the equivalent of a month of rain in a single day og:url: https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21f40271766f2316/698873c10b72e3bf456e71a3/chennai-airport.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: APTOPIX India Monsoon Flooding og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down This Indian Airport twitter:description: It received the equivalent of a month of rain in a single day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21f40271766f2316/698873c10b72e3bf456e71a3/chennai-airport.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down This Indian Airport by [Olivier Laurent](/author/olivier-laurent/) ## Olivier Laurent Dec 4, 2015 12:13 AM CUT  A flooded view of the Chennai airport in Chennai, India on Dec. 3, 2015. A flooded view of the Chennai airport in Chennai, India on Dec. 3, 2015.Atul Yadav—AP by [Olivier Laurent](/author/olivier-laurent/) ## Olivier Laurent Dec 4, 2015 12:13 AM CUT Thousands of people have been forced from their home after the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu experienced its heaviest rainfall in more than a century, the Associated Press [reports](http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/more-rains-coming-as-south-india-grapples-with-massive-flood/ "undefined"). The deluge has forced the closure of an airport in the state’s capital, Chennai, where 13 inches of rain were reported in just under 24 hours. The Indian Meteorological Department expects a depression in the Bay of Bengal to bring more heavy rains to the state later this week.  An aerial view of a partially submerged airplane is pictured in a flood affected area in Chennai, India on Dec. 3, 2015. India's Press Information Bureau/Reuters ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/"},"headline":"See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down This Indian Airport","datePublished":"2015-12-04T00:13:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:49.380Z","description":"It received the equivalent of a month of rain in a single day","url":"https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/","keywords":["India","Airport","Flood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21f40271766f2316/698873c10b72e3bf456e71a3/chennai-airport.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivier Laurent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/olivier-laurent/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21f40271766f2316/698873c10b72e3bf456e71a3/chennai-airport.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX India Monsoon Flooding","caption":"APTOPIX India Monsoon Flooding","creditText":"Atul Yadav—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4135909/chennai-airport-rain/","name":"See How the Worst Rainfall in a Century Shut Down This Indian Airport"}}]}] ```