Major share of annual rainfall recorded

November 09, 2010 01:13 am | Updated October 21, 2016 03:35 pm IST - CHENNAI

Redhills Lake (Puzhaleri)  water discharging point and water level  scale spot Johes Towe,   the main source of drinking water supply to Chennai people. on Friday.         Photo S_Thanthoni.

Redhills Lake (Puzhaleri) water discharging point and water level scale spot Johes Towe, the main source of drinking water supply to Chennai people. on Friday. Photo S_Thanthoni.

Cyclonic storm ‘Jal' failing to meet the expectations of the residents who were expecting bountiful rainfall is not a matter of concern as Chennai has already received a major share of its annual rainfall.

Officials of Meteorological Department said Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recorded only five cm of rainfall since Saturday. Usually, coastal districts, including Chennai, receive good rainfall during such cyclonic storms.

However, ‘Jal' weakened into a deep depression on Sunday evening and changed direction before crossing the north Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh coast. As a result, many coastal areas near Chennai did not get heavy showers.

Y.E.A. Raj, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, said since October 1 Chennai has registered 30 cm of rain, which is 10 cm less compared to the average. But in terms of the annual rainfall, the city had already received 116 cm from January 1. The average annual rainfall is 122 cm.

During the northeast monsoon (October to December), the city gets an average rainfall of 70 cm and 75 cm.

“The weather will be subdued for the next four days. But, it may not be a completely dry period as the easterly wind, favourable for northeast monsoon, is prevailing,” he said.

Cyclonic storm ‘Jal', however, meant a considerable increase in the storage level of the four reservoirs — Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam. On Monday, their combined storage was 5,958 million cubic feet (mcft) against the capacity of 11,057 mcft.

Officials of Chennai Metrowater said the rains in the past two days brought inflow of 215 mcft, which is sufficient to supply to the city for 10 days. The northeast monsoon, which set in on October 29, stepped up the storage in the waterbodies by 810 mcft.

“We are receiving about 500 cubic feet per second of Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh for the past one month. Nearly 1,600 mcft, enough to meet water needs of the city for two months, has been realised so far,” said an official.

The storage of the reservoirs is significant as nearly 380 of the 670 million litres a day supplied to the city are drawn from them.

Vegetable prices

There has not been much rise in the cost of vegetables except for a few owing to rainfall, according to wholesale vendors at Koyambedu market.

Drumsticks are being sold at Rs.70 per kg as they are being brought from Gujarat. The supply from Dindigul district has been less for the past few days, they said. The cost of other vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and brinjals, has stabilised as the festival season is over, they added.

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