Lakes, dams nearing full capacity

While the Poondi, Sholavaram, Chembarambakkam and Puzhal reservoirs are more than 85 per cent full, continued inflows due to rain has resulted in water being released from Chembarambakkam reservoir. The shutters at the Napier bridge and Adyar have been opened to route water to the sea. Water was being released from the reservoirs in view of their safety, the CM said. Similarly, excess water was being released from 45 of the state’s 89 bigger tanks. Also, 6,971of the state’s 14, 098 PWD were full. Officials have been asked to ensure that people in low lying areas on the banks of tanks were moved to safe areas when excess water was released. They would also be provided necessary facilities, the Chief Minister said. 

The Adyar river now carries 25,000 mcft water from Chembarambakkam against its 72,000 mcft capacity. The Cooum carries 22,000 mcft water as against its capacity of 25,000 mcft.

The fifteen dams in TN have received and continue to receive copious inflows due to the rain. While Mettur (Stanley reservoir) level was 91.70 feet against its FTL of 120 feet, only Manimuthar in Tirunelveli district and Amaravathy did not release water. The level at Sathanur dam in Tiruvanamalai district and Amaravathy dam was just 2 feet short of their FTLs of 119 feet and 90 feet respectively.

Tiruvarur, Nagai and North TN Battered

Normal life has been completely thrown out of gear as heavy and steady rains pounded most of the northern districts and the two central districts of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur on Tuesday.

Several villages near Marakkanam in Villupuram district have been marooned due to the heavy downpour on Tuesday. Further, owing to rough weather conditions sea water was intruding into coastal hamlets in the region. Officials said that if the rains continued, traffic movement on ECR would be affected

The already devastated Cuddalore was also experiencing continuous rains since morning on Tuesday, said Sundararajan, a resident of Chidambaram.

In Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, the situation is bad, as both the locations were battered by heavy rains from Tuesday morning.