On December 1-2 flood-ravaged Chennai received more rainfall in 24 hours than it had seen on any day since 1901, according to NASA. The space agency yesterday released an animated map that provides satellite-based estimates of rainfall over southeastern India on December 1-2, accumulating in 30 minute intervals.

The deluge followed a month of persistent monsoon rains that were already well above normal for Tamil Nadu, NASA’s Earth Observatory said in a blog post. The unprecedented rainfall flooded the city and took 250 lives apart from affecting tens of thousands of people and disrupting lifestyle of entire city.

According to Hal Pierce, a scientist on the GPM team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, the highest rainfall totals exceeded 500 mm (20 inches) in an area just off the southeastern coast.

“Meteorologists in India and abroad attributed the rains to a super-charged northeast monsoon. In the winter, prevailing winds blow from northeast to southwest across the country, which tends to have a drying effect in most places, particularly inland,” the blog post said.

Watch the video here:

Coastal eastern India receives 50 to 60 percent of its yearly rainfall during winter monsoon. But this year, winds must have absorbed excess moisture that has caused super-monsoon disrupting lifestyle and killing many along with loss of food and fodder.