Chennai: Chennai, known for its struggle for water, can smile without worry till next summer, thanks to two things- rains and release of water from Veeranam.
With heavy inflow due to rains, water has been released from Veeranam to the city.
Meanwhile, compared to occasional rainfall in Chennai for last few days, today’s showers were high. What started as a slight drizzle in the wee hours continued till afternoon drenching all the streets of the city.
Morning office-goers faced the brunt of the situation as there were traffic chaos in almost all key stretches with water-logged roads adding to the woes.
On the other hand, ghost rains are lashing Kerala rendering over 54,000 homeless and 29 dead.
Tamilnadu government on Thursday announced Rs five crore relief following which the Puducherry government has sanctioned Rs one crore today.
A red alert has been sounded in the ‘God’s own country’ with Central forces rushing for rescue operations and Chief Minister Pinarayi vijayan personally monitoring relief works.
Almost all the neighbourhood States’ dams are filling fast leading to floods gushing out to our delta regions through the rivers. The opening of Idukki dam after five months shows the extent of rainfall in Kerala.
Not to forget our own Mettur dam which is now holding one lakh cubic feet of water, up by 30,000 cubic feet in a matter of just 24 hours. Flood warning has already been issued in Tamilnadu’s Cauvery delta regions with discharge started from Tiruchi Kallanai as well.
As far as Kerala is concerned, Union Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh today spoke to Vijayan and assured support.
In a tweet, he said, “Spoke to Kerala CM Shri Pinrayi Vijayan and discussed the prevailing flood situation in the state. I have assured all possible assistance from the Centre to the state government. The relief and rescue ops are going on. MHA is closely monitoring the flood situation.”
On his part, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has assured all possible help.
MeT department tagged the effects of southwest monsoon to be the reason for the rainfall and added that a new low pressure is going to be formed over Bay of Bengal.
A MeT official, said, “Southwest monsoon is very active over Kerala and moderate over Bay of Bengal. There is also a cyclonic circulation adjoining south coastal Andhra Pradesh. In addition, there are two other cyclonic circulations, one over the bay and another over Arabian Sea. A fresh low pressure area is likely to form over Northwest Bay of Bengal on 13 August.”
“In wake of these conditions, Chennai and Tamilnadu witnessed good rainfall.’ According to the official, rains are likely to continue for the next three days in the city.
Meanwhile, fishermen in Tamilnadu have been asked not to venture into sea.