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TN starts off to good rain year, Corpn requests citizens to report weak trees
On Wednesday, the city received about 3 cm of rainfall and several areas such as Meenambakkam, Guindy, Teynampet, Nungambakkam and Valasaravakkam received heavy showers. The Regional Meteorological Centre predicted heavy to moderate rainfall on Friday.
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It was also the first time in seven years that Chennai recorded more than 1 cm of rain on January 1. Currently, Tamil Nadu has received an excess of about 97 per cent of rain. The expected amount of rainfall for this time of the year is 1.8 mm of rainfall, while the State received more than 3.6 mm of rain in the past two days.
Various parts of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chennai received heavy showers on Wednesday with Kancheepuram receiving about 8 cm of rainfall. Other districts including Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, Permabalur, Chengalpattu, Vellore and Ariyalur also received light to moderate rainfall.
As per the Regional Meteorological Centre, the isolated parts of the Tamil Nadu are expected to receive heavy rain in the next 48 hours. Meanwhile, the sky is likely to be overcast and with light rain in some areas for next five days. The maximum and minimum temperatures may be around 31 degrees Celsius and 23 degrees Celsius.
On Thursday, the maximum temperatures in Nungambakkam were 28.3 degrees Celsius, while Meenambakkam recorded 27.6 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperatures recorded were 23.6 degrees Celsius and 23.4 degrees Celsius at Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam.
Water levels in city lakes soar
According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water) data, the four lakes — Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chembarambakam lakes — had combined storage of 5,670 (million cubic feet) mcft against their total capacity of 11,257 mcft as on January 2, which is 50.05 per cent of theirstorage capacity.
Of the four lakes, Poondi — which was bone dry during the peak water crisis — has 1,430 mcft of water against its capacity of 3,231 mcft, while Red Hills lake (Puzhal lake) has attained 73 per cent of its total storage capacity. The lake, that was fed by Krishna River water diverted from Poondi lake has 2,477 mcft of water against its total capacity of 3,300 mcft.
While inflow to Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam lakes has stopped, Poondi and Red Hills receive a steady inflowof 348 and 321 cusecs.
The data also suggest that the water levels in the city lakes on December 31 were higher than the water levels recorded on the same day the previous year. As on December 31, 2018, the lakes had only 1,402 mcft of water.
Corpn requests citizens to report weak trees
With the ongoing rains, the Greater Chennai Corporation has requested citizens to report weak trees or branches to prevent tree falls in the city.
According to Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, people can call the zonal offices or contact civic body control at 1913.
“We have procured six hydraulic machines for Rs 1.2 crore — under state disaster management fund — to cut dangerous trees and branches to prevent falling of such trees and to avoid the delay in clearing them. The vulnerable trees are being removed periodically based on field inspection and complaints from the public,” he said.
As per the civic body data, there are around 1.61 lakh trees along the major roads and interior roads. “Most are overgrown and have wider branches. In case, they break and fall, they can pose a threat to life and property.”
Prakash added that the civic body had cleared around 54,000 weak branches in 2019 that resulted in the reduction of tree fall incidents during the monsoon. Apart from contacting zonal offices through phone, citizens can also e-mail the respective zonal officers requesting the removal of weak trees and branches.
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