The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Low pressure may bring rain

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Low pressure may bring rain

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 6. A low pressure which has developed in the Bay of Bengal is promising to bring moderate to heavy rain in parts of north Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in the next 48 hours.

The low pressure is now lying over coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Bay of Bengal. Under its influence, the entire Andhra Pradesh and north and south interior Karnataka will also experience widespread rain with isolated heavy falls, according to the weather office here.

Eight cm in Vellore

The northern parts of Tamil Nadu experienced good rain today. Vellore town recorded the maximum of 8 cm, followed by Sholinghur 7 cm, Denkanikottai (Krishnagiri district) 6 cm, Arakkonam 4, and Salem and Dharmapuri three cm each during the 24 hours ended 8.30 a.m. today. Chennai city also experienced intermittent showers early this morning.

Chennai woes

With Chennai's reservoirs already dry and Andhra Pradesh not in a position yet to release Krishna water, water managers here are looking for increased rainfall in south Andhra Pradesh.

"We need some storage at Kandaleru and south Andhra is also the catchment area for the city reservoirs," explains a Metrowater official.

The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, wrote to her Andhra Pradesh counterpart seeking release of water from the Srisailam and Somasila reservoirs, in the canal systems, to ensure some storage in Kandaleru, but Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has informed her that there is not enough storage in the reservoirs in his State to provide water to Tamil Nadu at this juncture.

Mettur inflows up

However, thanks to widespread rain in Dharmapuri, Salem and Krishnagiri districts, the inflow into the Mettur reservoir registered a marked increase today. The inflow, which on an average, was 15,000 cusecs in the last month, had come down to less than 6,000 cusecs in the last two days.

The receipt rose to about 12,000 cusecs this morning but was reduced to 10,647 cusecs in the night, compared to 6,000 cusecs on Sunday.

The discharge was reduced from 13,327 cusecs in the morning to 10,786 cusecs in the evening following reports of widespread rain in the Cauvery delta districts.

The storage in the reservoir was 43.866 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) as against its capacity of 93.4 tmcft.

Karnataka supply

According to Public Works Department officials here, as the southwest monsoon has become active again, the catchment areas of the Cauvery are likely to receive heavy rain in the next two days.

As the reservoirs in Karnataka are almost full, it could no longer hold any water and will be forced to resort to heavy discharge.

This, the officials here hope, may lead to a good inflow into the Mettur reservoir in the next two days.

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