Low pressure area to bring more rain to Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry

Chennai

With the city and suburbs receiving mild showers throughout the day, Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam observatories recorded 27.4 mm and 34.9 mm rainfall, respectively.According to weathermen, the city will continue to receive one or two spells of intermittent rains or thundershowers for the next 24 hours.“A well-marked low pressure over southwest Bay of Bengal lies over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Tamil Nadu coast.This system will bring more rain to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the next three days,” said S Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Regional Meteorological Centre.For the next 48 hours, maximum temperature is likely to be around 31 Degrees Celsius and the and minimum temperature around 23 Degrees Celsius in the city. Due to rain, Chennai’s traffic situation was thrown out of gear in the arterial roads on Wednesday.Holiday for schools, colleges in Chennai todayWith the Met office predicting heavy rain during the next 24 hours, the State government declared a holiday for schools and colleges in Chennai and its neighbouring Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts on Thursday. The exams to be conducted in colleges and universities in the city on Thursday were also postponed. Accordingly, Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University has rescheduled its examinations. Also, exams for its affiliated colleges and school of excellence in law will not be conducted due to bad weather. In addition, Anna University also announced that examinations scheduled on Thursday and Friday will not be conducted for the colleges in Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur and Pudukottai districts. Anna University, however, is yet to announce the examination schedule for its affiliated colleges in the city.Despite incessant rain, no inflow into Chennai lakesEven though the northeast monsoon which arrived in the city resulted in a good spell of rains from Tuesday evening, the city’s major lakes reported zero inflow. When contacted, a Water Resources Department official said that incessant rainfall was not enough to fill Chembarambakkam, Poondi, Cholavaram and Redhills lakes that provide drinking water to Chennai.“We have received only 2 to 3 cm of rain. This would not increase the inflow. Till Wednesday night, the four lakes recorded nil inflow,” the official said. However, we could expect a substantial inflow of water to the lakes, if the city receives heavy downpour in coming days, he added.