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Intense NE monsoon triggers fear of flooding
With the Northeast monsoon gathering momentum and heavy rain lashing the city, a number of localities in Chennai were inundated in the last two days. Continuous rainfall and prediction of heavy rain for two more days have created fears of flooding among the people.
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Chennai
“We received only moderate rainfall in past two days, but our streets are still water-logged. We are afraid that if we receive heavy rainfall now, our homes are going to get flooded,” said Srinivasan, a resident of Ram Nagar, Madipakkam, who has been living in the area for more than 20 years. He added, “Although stormwater drains were being constructed in the main road, it has been left incomplete.” Residents of other low-lying areas such as Velachery, however, claimed that the situation was slightly better so far this. “Compared to last year, water stagnation was lesser this year owing to the new stormwater drains. Even construction materials — which was dumped blocking the six culverts— have been removed and we hope that the situation will hold in case of extremely heavy rainfall,” said M Balakrishnan, a resident of Tansi Nagar, Velachery.
Meanwhile, in the other southern suburb of Chitlapakkam, work on constructing stormwater drain is yet to begin. “With no major plans in place, our neighbourhoods are likely to get flooded again this year, in case of a heavy rainfall,” said Vishwanath, a resident of Chitlapakkam. He added, “We have requested the PWD officials to plan and ensure that the rainwater does not stagnate. They said that they would make an alternative way for the water to flow out of the area flow of water as soon as possible. If the construction of stormwater drains is completed, then we will not have to worry about water-logging.” While there has been stagnation of water in several other parts of the city, no major inundation has been reported in the past 24 hours.
Water levels in 4 lakes touch 2,455 mcft due to heavy rains
According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro water) data, Poondi Lake, which was bone dry a few weeks ago recorded 1,582 million cubic feet (Mcft) of water on Wednesday against its total storage capacity of 3,231 Mcft.
The lake receives an inflow of 1,413 cusecs and the Metrowater is drawing 464 cusecs of water for distribution. In overall, four lakes — Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chembarambakam lakes — together had 2,455 Mcft of water against their total capacity of 11,257 Mcft, which is around 21 per cent storage.
Of the 1,413 cusecs flowing into Poondi lake, 630.74 cusecs is Krishna water released from Kandaleru dam in Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, Cholavaram lake has also been receiving runoff water during the rains and the lake currently has 121 Mcft against its total capacity of 1,081 Mcft. Redhills and Chembarambakkam lakes have 708 Mcft and 44 Mcft of water. Red Hills lake, whose catchment area is under a threat of industrialisation, received 520 cusecs of water.
The data also suggests that the water levels in the city lakes on Wednesday was higher than the water levels recorded on same day the previous year. As on October 30, 2018, the lakes had combined storage of only 1,779 Mcft. Owing to the severe drought this summer, the Metrowater had stopped drawing water from the lakes, during which had reached an all-time low storage of less than one per cent of its total capacity.
A few days ago, the Metrowater had increased the water supply to the city to 650 million litres per day (MLD) from 525 MLD. Earlier, the water manager had reduced the quantity of water supply to protract the supply till the onset of Northeast monsoon.
Heavy rain to continue for 48 hours
Heavy rain lashed several parts of the city on Tuesday night and Wednesday, leaving many areas inundated. The suburbs were largely affected with rain water entering homes and even some government schools in neighbouring Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts.
While Nungambakkam weather station recorded 8.1 cm of rainfall over the past 24 hours, the Meenambakkam station recorded 5.6 cm. Highest rainfall in the state was recorded in Tiruttani, Tiruvallur district ( 19 cm) during the period.
Thanks to the recent rain, city reservoirs also recorded copious inflow in 24 hours. The combined storage at the four lakes - Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakam – was at 2,455 mcft against their total combined storage of 11,257 mcft, which is around 21 per cent storage. According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water) data, Poondi, which was bone dry a few weeks ago had storage of 1,582 mcft against its total storage capacity of 3,231 mcft, as on Wednesday.
Weathermen predicted more rainfall across the state over the next 48 hours. “Delta to South Tamil Nadu will get most rain in the next four days. The entire North TN coast from Chennai to Delta will get pull effect rain and from outer bands. Other districts will get good widespread rain in the next three to four days. Fishermen in Kanniyakumari and Thoothukudi are requested not to venture into the sea for the next five days,” said S Balachandran, Director, Regional Metrological Department, Chennai.
Heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Sivaganga, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchy, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Coimbatore, Theni, Nilgiris and Dindigul districts.
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