Remnants of Cyclone Mandous bring sharp spells of rain over Chennai – The Hindu

Various parts of Chennai and its suburbs experienced sharp spells of rain on Monday, influencing district administrations in and around the city to declare holidays for school and colleges.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, several weather stations in Chennai, Madhavaram, Kattupakkam, Taramani and Sathyabama University recorded 2 cm of rains between 8.30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

S. Balachandran, Additional Director-General of Meteorology, Chennai, said Sunday’s cyclonic circulation, which is a remnant of Cyclone Mandous, is now moving over north Kerala and its neighbourhood.

The moisture drag towards this system from the Bay of Bengal, influenced rains over Chennai and its fringes. The interaction of moisture between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and south-easterly wind flow towards the system led to widespread rains. There is a possibility of isolated heavy rains in north interior Tamil Nadu, as the system will pick up moisture till Tuesday morning.

The RMC has forecast that heavy rain may occur at isolated places over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore, Ranipet, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Tiruchirappalli, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Erode and Mayiladuthurai till Tuesday morning.

Rainfall will begin to gradually decrease from Tuesday as a fresh low pressure area will form over the Arabian Sea on Tuesday and move away from the Indian Ocean region.

Rain deficit bridged

Cyclone Mandous helped in bridging the rain deficit in many north T.N. districts. The State’s overall seasonal rainfall has improved from a negative, to normal of 40.1 cm on Monday.

Chennai district’s seasonal rainfall has improved from a surplus of 1% to 16% after the downpours brought in by the cyclone. Similarly, the cyclone has filled the rainfall gap, which was less than 19% to a surplus of 10%, in Ranipet district.

There may not be any significant weather system over the Bay for the next five days.

Moderate rains with thunderstorms and lightning are likely to occur over Chennai till Wednesday.

Lakes, rivers filled

Intermittent rains since Monday morning also had an impact over fast-filling up Chennai lakes and rivers in neighbouring districts.

As the Chembarambakkam reservoir is getting a steady inflow from catchment areas, water release has been increased to 2,000 cubic feet per second since Monday afternoon.

The Kancheepuram district administration has warned residents of downstream areas of the increase in outflow from the reservoir floodgates.

However, the release from Red Hills reservoir remains at 100 cusecs as there was no drastic increase in flow into the lake.

In Tiruvallur district, water discharge from Poondi reservoir was decreased to 6,000 cusecs on Monday.

Officials of the Water Resources Department said Palar river carried 9,000 cusecs as the checkdam in Pazhayaseevaram was full. It is the confluence point of Cheyyar and Vegavathi rivers. “We had to break a portion of two causeways across Vegavathi river on Sunday to allow free flow of floodwater. The portion of river has been narrowed down to 35 metres due to encroachments,” said an official.