With bountiful southwest monsoon, State records 24 per cent excess rainfall this year

According to an official from the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, many of the districts reported excess rainfall this year, with only a few recording less than the average.

The actual rainfall in mm recorded during the SW monsoon stood at 424.4 mm, nearly a quarter more than the average of 341.9 mm. Tirupur recorded 111 per cent extra, while it was 101 per cent and 94 per cent excess respectively at Theni an Karur. In contrast, it was 1 per cent excess in Chennai, and 12 per cent and 1 per cent lesser in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur respectively.

With 5,399 mm rainfall, Devala in The Nilgiris was the wettest part of the State, while Thoothukudi town which received a meagre 15 mm was the driest in the State and country, said popular weather blogger Pradeep John, who runs the Facebook page Tamil Nadu Weatherman.

“In July, Meenambakkam crossed an all-time record of over 300 mm for the month. But then in August, we had very poor rains. In September, the rains were decent. The rains in the last few days have turned around the numbers,” said John.

The rainfall was good at western and southern parts of Chennai, but was scanty in the north and central areas, particularly the stretch from Anna Nagar to Mylapore.

The four city reservoirs had a combined storage of 4,508 mcft on Wednesday, much higher than the 669 mcft recorded on the same day last year.