Tiruchi, Karur still await NE monsoon

Desilting of storm water drains going on in full swing: Corporation Commissioner

Civic workers cleaning a canal choked with polythene bags in Tiruchi on Wednesday

The northeast monsoon has brought copious showers to the delta region, particularly Nagapattinam and Tiruvaur, but it is yet to turn active in Tiruchi and Karur districts.

Although the sky has remained overcast for the last four days, Tiruchi district has not received noticeable rain except for a slight drizzle here and there during the last week.

The northeast monsoon between October and December is important as far as rainfall is concerned in Tiruchi and Karur districts. Out of 788.08 mm of average rainfall in a year, Tiruchi district gets 427 mm through the northeast monsoon. The average rainfall for October is 169.8 mm. But the district received just 80 mm in October, recorded during the first week. There was no rainy day recorded in the last week of October, which is supposed to be active on account of the northeast monsoon.

“We should have recorded at least five rainy days in the last week of October. But we have none so far. It means that the monsoon has not become active in our region,” said a senior official of the Agriculture department.

However, according to statistics, the rain has not let up Tiruchi district as far as southwest monsoon is concerned. As against the normal rainfall of 221.7 mm between June and September, the district received 346.37 mm. Moreover, it was widespread in different parts of the district.

“We feel that the excess rainfall through the southwest monsoon has offset the shortfall in October. The shortfall has not affected the farming operation. The forecast is very encouraging. We expect good rainfall in the current month,” the official said.

The official added that it had decided to bring 49,800 hectares under paddy cultivation. Paddy transplantation had been completed on about 8,000 hectares and the process was expected to completed within the month.

In Karur district, though the northeast monsoon is yet to get active, officials said the district had received excess rainfall in October mainly due to the good rain received at the fag end of southwest monsoon.

Meanwhile, Tiruchi Corporation has begun fine-tuning of storm water drains in the city in order to prevent flooding and water-logging.

Commissioner N. Ravichandran said desilting of important storm water drains had been going on in full swing. The idea was to minimise the inconveniences to the people on rainy days.