Bountiful rain has resulted in many waterbodies in Chennai’s three neighbouring districts getting filled up. The water level in several lakes is steadily rising, thanks to good inflow from their catchment areas.
Of the nearly 1,483 lakes maintained by the Water Resources Department in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu districts, nearly 332 are full. In Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts, nearly 187 of the 909 lakes have storage between 76% and 99%. A large number of waterbodies in these districts are already filled to 50% of their capacity.
Officials said many major lakes in Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts, including Thenneri, Sriperumbudur and Kolavoy, are either fast filling up or already filled to their capacity.
The Palar has been in full flow this monsoon and Vayalur check dam in the tail-end of the river was filled up on Sunday. About 25,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of flood water drained into the sea as the river received runoff from its tributaries. The saturated condition of the river, which has had flow since last northeast monsoon, led to rapid filling up of check dams, the officials said.
In Tiruvallur district, 114 lakes out of 574 under the purview of the Water Resources Department are full. Only 59 tanks have a storage of less than 25%. The department expects a minimum of 100 more lakes to be full during the next spell of rain.
Low pressure area
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a lull in rainfall till the weekend. A low pressure area is likely to form in the southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood around November 16. This is expected to bring widespread rain over the State.
“The weather system brewing in the Bay of Bengal is still 2,000 km away”S. BalachandranAdditional Director General of Meteorology, IMD, Chennai
S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, IMD Chennai, said, “The weather system brewing in the Bay of Bengal is still 2,000 km away. The State will experience isolated rain of up to moderate intensity this week. We are monitoring the system for rainfall prospects,” he said.
Chennai may experience light to moderate rain in some areas till Wednesday.
The present weather system has weakened into an upper air circulation that lies over southeast Arabian sea to Comorin area across Kerala and south Tamil Nadu.
Many places received moderate thunderstorms and intense rain on Monday. While Meenambakkam received 3 cm, the rain gauges in Anna University, Poonamallee, Chembarambakkam recorded up to 1 cm between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on Monday.
