The Hindu, one of India's leading daily newspapers with its headquarters in Chennai, did not publish its Wednesday edition due to floods in the city following torrential rainfall.

Torrential rains had badly hit several parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday along with the capital city.

Tuesday's heavy downpour submereged the city in almost neck-deep rain water and prevented the staff of 'The Hindu' from reaching the office to publish the newspaper for its 2 December edition.

N Murali, Co-Chairman of The Hindu's owner Kasturi & Sons Ltd, told BBC that Wednesday's publication could not be published because his employees could not reach the daily's publication plant in Maraimalai Nagar town, which is far from the city.

"Our Maraimalainagar township was not accessible for the people who run the plant. So, none of our staff could reach the plant. It is located about 30 kms (18 miles) from the city in Maraimalainagar," Murali said.

"The printing press plant is large so we put it up outside the city. Even if we had printed the paper, I doubt if it could have been distributed in the city," he added, BBC reported.

The Hindu, established as a weekly newspaper in 1878, began publishing as a daily in 1889. It is reported to be the second most circulated English-language newspaper in the country.

Although, it started with just one printing house in Chennai, 'The Hindu' is now published from several locations, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad,Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Kolkata, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Mangaluru, Tiruchirappalli, Hubballi, Mohali, Lucknow, Allahabad, Malappuram and Mumbai, across nine states.

Heavy rainfall in the state has choked normal life in Chennai, forcing the state authorities to shut down the airport for a day as its runway has been flooded. Schools, colleges and bus services have also been closed.

The Southern Raiwlays has cancelled 12 trains, while divertingd 15 more.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more showers in the next four days and the state government has postponed the half-yearly examinations of all state board schools. The exams were scheduled to begin on 7 December.

So far, 188 people have lost their lives in the floods in the four districts of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore and Thiruvallur.

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