Off the starting blocks like an athlete on a 100-metre dash, the southwest monsoon covered quite some distance during the first five days of the season beginning on June 1, bringing 93 per cent more rainfall than usual for Kerala till June 5.
But the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) considers it premature to think of withdrawing the existing load-shedding schedule. “Inflows into the reservoirs are still not of any substantial volume,” a KSEB official said on Thursday.
Every district experienced more rainfall than usual during the five-day period till June 5. Idukki and Pathanamthitta, where the major reservoirs of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) are located, received 115 per cent and 51 per cent more rainfall than usual. However, the inflow from the streams emptying into the reservoirs was worth only around 50 million units of electricity for the five-day period, the official said. As the monsoon peaks to mid-season form, the inflow is known to touch the region of 80 million units a day.
Among the other districts, Alappuzha received 66 per cent more rainfall than usual, Ernakulam 59 per cent, Kannur 174 per cent, Kasaragod 89 per cent, Kollam 115 per cent, Kottayam 87 per cent, Kozhikode 90 per cent, Malappuram 105 per cent, Palakkad 42 per cent, Pathanamthitta 51 per cent, Thiruvananthapuram 118 per cent, Thrissur 52 per cent, and Wayanad 169 per cent, according to the Thiruvananthapuram Meteorology Centre. Against a long-term average of 77 mm of rainfall for the five days from June 1 to 5, the State received an area-weighted rainfall of 149 mm this time.
An off-shore trough at mean sea level was in position from south Konkan coast to north Kerala coast on Thursday. This condition, which is ideal for good rainfall along the west coast, is likely to persist during the week ahead.
