Chennai: Rain-starved Tamil Nadu has good news now as weathermen expect the rains to continue for a few more days, the low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal having intensified. The city and the coastal districts received moderate rainfall on Monday, which has evoked hopes of a partial revival of the northeast monsoon after last month’s dry spell.
“The monsoon was active over the coastal areas on Sunday. There are possibilities of this system escalating into a depression,” said a Met official. While heavy rainfall is expected on Tuesday, coastal Tamil Nadu and even interior areas in the state need to brace up for very heavy rainfall on Wednesday.
“The entire state received only 6.2 mm mean rainfall on Sunday. We need more rains to bridge the deficit gap,” said Dr Y. E. A. Raj, deputy director general of meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. If the system intensified and moved inland, there could be more rainfall, he said.
“At present, various models are showing different movements of the system. We need to wait for the actual path,” he added. The state has so far recorded deficit mean rainfall (minus 31 per cent) at 25 cm compared to a normal of 36.2 cm for the period starting October 1 to December 2.
For a 24-hour period ended 8.30 am on Monday, Ennore in Tiruvallur district recorded the maximum rainfall in the state at 10 cm, followed by Pamban in Ramanathapuram district (9 cm). Papanasam in Tirunelveli district registered 6 cm rainfall, while Coonoor recorded 5 cm rains.
Usually, Chennai receives a mean total rainfall of 19 cm in December with about 6.3 rainy days. In the last two years, the city has received only 13 cm (2011) and 12.5 cm (2010) rains in December. It remains to be seen whether the revival of the monsoon will bring rainfall to the city this month.
Next: Coonoor, Kotagiri get good rain
Coonoor, Kotagiri get good rain
Ooty: Good rains, especially in the Coonoor, Kotagiri and Kundah belt, have brought hopes of revival of the northeast monsoon. The northeast monsoon usually brings copious rainfall to the eastern, southeast and south western parts of Nilgiris like Kotagiri, Coonoor and Kundah.
But this year rainfall was not up to the expected level though it rained here and there in patches over the past two months.
Heavy spells of rain stretching over a few days used to be a feature of the region in the NE monsoon. The rainfall pattern this year has not been uniform and this has brought furrows to the brows of water managers as water sources in Coonoor, Kotagiri and Kundah belt solely depend upon good monsoon rain to get recharged.
Thanks to the impact of the depression over Bay of Bengal, rain has been back since Sunday night and the copious rainfall recorded in Coonoor, Kundah belt is a good sign. Cloudy weather coupled with occasional rains that ruled the weather profile of Coonoor and Kundah belt indicates monsoon type of climate has set in.
Next: Spike in monsoon-related viral fever cases; docs warn against scrub typhus
Spike in monsoon-related viral fever cases; docs warn against scrub typhus
Uma Kannan |?DC
Chennai: With the rains come diseases too. Doctors in the city notice a spike in monsoon-related illnesses. “Once rain stops we see dengue and malaria cases, but now we are seeing more cases of viral fever.
Every day in Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital nearly 20-30 fever cases are reported and with the rainy season, there’s generally an increase of 10-20 per cent,” says a senior doctor at the government hospital.
Water-logging in streets and parks are so common that children love to wet their feet. But doctors now caution against scrub typhus, which is caused due to mite bite.
Paediatrician Dr. J.K. Reddy says the bite of mites is just like a mosquito bite and people tend to ignore it. “We see such scrub typhus cases in rainy season and children should stop walking barefoot. It’s preferable to wear shoes.
While we focus more on chikungunya and dengue, we hardly think about this. At least one or two cases are seen every week,” he says. Like a cigarette burn it is formed on the part of the skin bitten by the mite.
The person will have continuous fever and body pain and it should be treated immediately. Apart from viral fever, doctors say there are more cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes respiratory tract infection.
“This RSV causes wheezing in children. Also common is flu. In the West as soon as the flu season begins people queue up to administer vaccination. Here in our country though we have flu vaccination the awareness level is very low.
The flu season has already began,” says Dr Madhu Purushothaman, consultant pediatrician of Apollo Children’s Hospital. Parents have to be careful and should not let children out in the rains. “What I see is parents give crocin syrup and send their kids to school. This not only affects the kid but also other children,” he adds.
Take preventive steps like drinking hot water, washing fruits and vegetables and avoiding crowded areas. Also carry hand sanitizers, say doctors.
Next: Civic body, metro water alert engineers on waterlogging
Civic body, metro water alert engineers on waterlogging
Chennai: With the weather office hinting that Chennai may get more rains over the next two days and the city witnessing intermittent rainfall, the Chennai corporation and Chennai metro water on Monday alerted the field engineers.
While there was no waterlogging nor inundation in the old parts of city, the suburbs, which were recently anneÂxed to the city corporation, witnessed some of this. CoÂmplaints of the mosquito menace due to waterloggiÂng in open areas were reÂcÂeived from Manali, MatÂhur and Madhavaram areÂas.
“There are no stormwater drains in our area, and whenever it rains, normalcy is affected. Mosquito brÂeÂeding goes unchecked in our area where a private school is also located,” said Rajesh K. “Despite several coÂÂmplaints to the CorpoÂraÂtiÂÂon staff attached to ward 19, there is no respite,” he saÂid.
Chennai metro water has now devised night duÂtÂiÂes for its deputy area enÂgÂiÂnÂeÂers to attend to any complÂaÂints. Metro water had also added a junior enÂgineer in service to its hÂeÂlÂpÂline cell so that he could get the teÂcÂhnical aspects of puÂbÂlic coÂmÂplaints while registering those related to driÂnÂking waÂter contamination and sewer overflow.
“All our field engineers are now provided men and machinery to be operated during night hours and the public helpline has been strengthened. And to monitor the quality of drinking water supplied during the monsoon 2,000 to 3,000 reÂsÂiÂdÂual chlorine level samples have been analysed on a daily basis,” senior metro water official said.
A co-ordination committee, comprising government departments, had also been formed to execute the monsoon arrangements in the city, but so far, the rainfall had been poor and no major situation had arisen, barring a few minor incidents of water logging, said a city corporation engineer.
