Chennai records 56 per cent above normal rainfall, but little water in reservoirs

CHENNAI: Chennai has recorded 56 per cent above normal rainfall since June 1, with 247.5 millimetres rainfall from June 1 to July 27. Despite the good rains, Chennai’s reservoirs — Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chembarakkam — have not seen any significant improvement in water levels.

The combined storage at the four reservoirs stood at 16 Mcft against 1,734 Mcft last year.

Chennai, which has been facing the worst water crisis since April, is dependent on supplies from desalination plants, Veeranam lake, quarries and agricultural wells in neighbouring districts.

The normal rainfall that Chennai receives every year from southwest monsoon season is 159.1 mm. The metro recorded 56 % above normal since June 1. The highest in the State is Tiruvannamalai district, which received 251.1mm rainfall between June 1 and July 27, which is 81 % higher than the normal amount of rainfall that the district gets during this time of the year.

While districts in northern Tamil Nadu recorded decent rainfall in recent days, other parts of the State remained rain-deficient.

Coimbatore district recorded a deficiency of 73% during the southwest monsoon.

Namakkal recorded the highest deficit this season at 77%, receiving just 21.7 mm rainfall from June 1 to July 27 while its normal stands at 96.0 mm.

The IMD bulletin issued on Saturday predicted that some parts of the city are likely to receive light rain with thundershowers during the next 48 hours.

The sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy, and maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 34 and 27 degree Celsius respectively in the city.

According to forecasts, light to moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu until the end of July.