The skies opened up on Monday after a long dry spell, bringing much needed relief to the people of Chennai.
A low pressure area that had dissipated into a lower level circulation brought what the cyclone that hit the Tamil Nadu coast close to the city in October-end failed to bring.
On Monday morning, Anna University and Meenambakkam had recorded the highest of 5 cm of rainfall. Nungambakkam, DGP office and Tambaram received 4 cm. Several other stations around the city too recorded a good spell of rainfall.
On Monday, though there were intermittent showers during the day, many localities experienced heavy showers in the evening. Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam received 2 cm and 4 cm of rainfall, respectively, between 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.
Traffic on main roads, including Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Poonamallee High Road, slowed down following the downpour in the evening. Traffic personnel had a tough time regulating traffic in areas such as Purasawalkam and T. Nagar.
Some low-level areas such as those in Kilpauk were water-logged within an hour of the evening showers.
Trains run behind schedule
The heavy downpour in the southern suburbs of Chennai resulted in a traffic gridlock on Monday evening at Chromepet, where vehicles that broke down were trapped for more than three hours. As Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses towards Tambaram and Chengalpattu were unable to reach their destinations on time, crowds of waiting commuters could be seen at all the bus stops.
Train services too were affected and Southern Railway staff said many late evening suburban electric trains from Chennai Beach to Chengalpattu were behind schedule.
Reservoirs filled
The overnight showers had increased the annual rainfall to 93 cm against the normal of 140 cm in Nungambakkam and 100 cm against the average of 138 cm in Meenambakkam.
For this season, beginning October 1, Chennai has registered 51 cm, which is short by 21 cm of the average rainfall for the reason. Officials of the meteorological department said that the rainfall has mostly been isolated to districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram. The rains will continue till December 7 over the city. There may be an increase in rainfall over the State on Tuesday and Chennai may experience heavy rain.
The four reservoirs that cater to the city’s drinking water needs, too, received some rainfall. This helped in maintaining the storage, which is under severe strain as Krishna water has stopped reaching the State’s border in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district, for the past two days. The Andhra Pradesh government had reduced the release citing dipping storage in the Kandaleru reservoir. The storage stood at 6.4 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) against 68 tmcft in Kandaleru reservoir on Monday.
Officials of the Water Resources Department said that at present, the four city reservoirs have less than 40 per cent of storage that would last only for a few months. Krishna water is imperative to balance the water withdrawal. “The Andhra Pradesh authorities have discharged 500 cubic feet of water per second (cusec) on Friday. We expect it to reach here (Uthukottai) by the early hours of Tuesday. Initially, we will realise a minimum of 100 cusecs,” said an official. The city has so far realised 3.18 tmcft of Krishna water since June end. This is equal to three months of city supply.
Meanwhile, a holiday on Tuesday was declared for all schools in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Vellore. The meteorological department has forecast that rain or thundershowers may occur in some areas, heavy at times, till Wednesday.
Tree collapses on car
A huge tree collapsed on a car on TTK Road around 8.30 p.m. on Monday. The car was waiting for a signal near Park Sheraton, when the tree collapsed. Members of the public rushed to the aid of the passengers. All six of them including the driver escaped unhurt.
( with inputs from K. Manikandan )
