Heavy rain in the hill district of Idukki in the past three days have filled streams emptying into the hydel reservoirs in the area, bringing cheer to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).
Idukki town, Munnar, Peermade and Mailadumpara have reported heavy showers since Thursday, with the rain gauge maintaining daily reading upwards of 4 cm. In the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, Munnar received 11 cm of rain, Peermedu 8 cm and Idukki town and Mailadumpara 5 cm each.
“Things are looking up,” a top KSEB official said on Saturday. “Inflow into the reservoirs is gradually increasing. We have not had a better start than this to the monsoon for quite a few years.” The State Electricity Regulatory Commission had earlier given the KSEB permission to enforce load-shedding till June 15. The KSEB has decided not to seek permission for continuing the load shedding beyond Saturday.
He said the situation at the moment was that the KSEB could manage power supply in the State without load-shedding, although the matter might have to be reviewed. Heavy rainfall in the high range areas of the State is an indication of the winds gathering in speed to drive the rainclouds up the mountains. It has been raining copiously in Wayanad district also these past three or four days. On Saturday, Vythiri in the district reported 9 cm of rainfall and Mananthavady, 5 cm. Almost all the rain gauge stations of the IMD in the State reported rainfall.
