City to have light showers today

Rains over the last few days have increased levels at the reservoirs

The city and its neighbourhoods will probably receive light showers on Tuesday, as a low pressure area over the south-eastern portion of the Arabian Sea has persisted.

Over the past three days, several districts in the State, including Chennai, have been recording rainfall. On Monday morning, weather stations in Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam received nearly 1 cm of rain.

The low pressure area, which has extended over Lakshadweep Islands and the Karnataka coast, is now expected to bring in showers to most districts.

Officials of the meteorological department said that heavy rainfall had lashed other places on the fringes of the city, including Poondi (6cm), Ennore (5cm) and Tiruvallur (4 cm).

This was welcome, as the city has been rain-starved thanks to a weak monsoon. While Nungambakkam recorded 2 cm over the past three days,

Meenambakkam registered 1.4 cm, which is short of the average rainfall of 2 cm usually received during this period.

This month’s showers so far have been the second-highest rainfall levels registered in February during the past decade.

Wet days also brought some respite to the fast-drying reservoirs that are the major sources of drinking water supply to Chennai.

Apart from Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh, the rains in the catchment areas of the four water bodies in Poondi, Chembarambakkam, Cholavaram and Red Hills added nearly 80 million cubic feet of water, which is sufficient to supply Chennai for four or five days.

The showers also reduced evaporation loss, officials of the Water Resources Department said.