The sun came out and dispelled dark clouds over the city and surrounding regions on Thursday, bringing relief to the people after two days of heavy rain that flooded many low-lying areas.
The weather office here forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in parts of Tamil Nadu over the next two days and said a low pressure had formed over the southwest bay of the Sri Lanka coast.
The let up in the downpour in Chennai and the neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram came as a respite to the residents as heavy rain had thrown life out of gear, leading to flooded areas and traffic snarls. However, the government has ordered that schools remain closed in these three districts.
S. Balachandran, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said the heaviest rainfall was in Palayamkottai (Tirunelveli district), which recorded 13 cm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am today, according to statistics provided by the Regional Meteorological Centre.
Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi district recorded 9 cm of rain, while Chennai received 4 cm of rain, he told reporters.
"A low pressure has formed over the southwest Bay of Sri Lanka coast. During the last 24 hours, fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Tamil Nadu," he said.
In the next two days, moderate rainfall was expected in many places in South Tamil Nadu and a few areas in the north coastal parts of the state, he said.
Heavy rainfall was also expected at one or two places over south Tamil Nadu and delta districts, Balachandran said, and advised fishermen in the coastal areas of the regions to be "cautious". As far as Chennai was concerned, some light spells of rain were expected in the next two days, he said.
The relentless rain in and around Chennai also resulted in an increase in the storage levels of reservoirs supplying drinking water to the city.
The combined storage of four reservoirs feeding Chennai—Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam—stood at 1925 mcft (million cubic feet), as against the full combined capacity of 11057 mcft, according to data made available by the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
The combined storage on November 2, 2016, stood at 1270 mcft, it said.
The storage is likely to go up following the forecast of more rain, and with the ongoing north east monsoon scheduled to last till December.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar on Thursday condoled the death of two children who were electrocuted in the Kodungaiyur area on Wednesday. He expressed his condolences to the families of Yuvasri and Bhavana, who died after coming in contact with a live wire submerged in stagnant water in that locality.
The minister told reporters the government would not tolerate any "laxity" on such issues and pointed out that eight officials of TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited) had been suspended in connection with the incident for failing to take precautionary measures.
