Cyclone Vardah, which crossed close to the Chennai Port on Tuesday afternoon, has marginally increased the storage in the four reservoirs that cater to the drinking water needs of Chennai. The inflow into the reservoirs on Monday is enough to supply the city for 10 days. However, the Water Resources Department (WRD) hopes that the inflow will continue for a day.
The very severe cyclonic storm Vardah weakened into a severe cyclonic storm as it crossed near the port between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. It brought nearly 17 cm of rainfall from the early hours of Monday to 8.30 p.m. in Nungambakkam. However, the weather observatory in Meenambakkam received 23 cm of rainfall during the same period.
According to the meteorological department, the rain will gradually decrease and one or two places in north Tamil Nadu may get heavy rains on Tuesday. Chennai may have a few spells of rain or thundershowers on Tuesday. The city reservoirs too recorded considerable rainfall but it has not boosted the storage much as the inflow was not sufficient for rapid improvement in the water level. Officials of the WRD said the reservoirs had a storage of 1,475 million cubic feet, which is only 13 per cent of its total capacity.
The water body in Poondi is also receiving a steady inflow of Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir. “We will need another spell of rain to fill the reservoirs before the northeast monsoon withdraws over the region,” an official added.
