Weathermen predict revival of North East monsoon from Dec 2

 

Heavy rains in coastal areas predicted

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Even as Cyclone Lehar failed to bring much anticipated rains in the city and state, weathermen are predicting that there will be a revival of North East monsoon between December 1 and 3.

 

Y E A Raj, deputy director general of meteorology, regional meteorological center, Chennai, said as per the weather models the north-east monsoon is expected to revive from first week of December and possibly on December 2.

 

“We are expecting the city would get three to four days of heavy rain but we can’t predict the quantity of rain,” said Raj,

 

Interestingly, the state has recorded a deficit of about 30 per cent rainfall during the north east monsoon and in Chennai it is nearly 40 per cent. Raj, however, refused to speculate on whether the deficit would be bridged during the spell of rains forecasted in December first week. Last year, the rainfall deficit was 16 per cent, he said.

 

Raj says the coastal areas of the state are likely to receive heavy rainfall while the interior parts would get slightly less rainfall.

 

This has also revived some hope among the water managers who are chalking out contingency plans following the less amount of water in the reservoirs.

 

This year the water levels in the four reservoirs --- Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam is only 3.5 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of water as compared to last year’s 4.44 tmc feet of water. This could last for only four to five months.

 

Interestingly, the state is not taking any chances. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during a high level meeting held on Tuesday has directed the officials to be ready with contingency plans while reviewing the drinking water situation in Chennai city.

 

Officials said that the issue of water storage level in Veeranam and other reservoirs were also discussed. She also asked officials to pursue with Andhra Pradesh on the release of state’s quota of Krishna water. Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Secretary K Phaneendra Reddy and PWD Secretary M Saikumar and senior officials were present.