Tamil Nadu: Isolated rains hits state, dam levels rise

Chennai, Dec 19 (PTI) A few parts in Tamil Nadu experienced isolated rain while a nippy breeze greeted the people in Chennai and its neighbourhood on Thursday.

The storage in the irrigation tanks across the state are brimming with water and the six dams providing drinking water to Chennai, too, were replenished by the rain since the past few days, thus taking the combined storage to reach nearly 75 per cent, a source at the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department said.

"Nearly 6,176 irrigation tanks out of 14,140 in Tamil Nadu have attained their full capacity, while 3,217 other tanks have more than 75 per cent storage of water," an official said.

Chennai's six dams, which have a total capacity of 13,213 Mcft, at present have a combined storage of 9,909 Mcft water that is 74.99 per cent.

Squally weather with wind speed 35 kmph to 45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph prevailed along and off Tamil Nadu coast, adjoining the Comorin area and the Gulf of Mannar, the India Meteorological Department said.

The low-pressure area over the Southwest Bay of Bengal is likely to move northwestwards towards North Tamil Nadu – South Andhra Pradesh coast during the next 24 hours. Thereafter, it is likely to move nearly northwards along the Andhra Pradesh coast during the subsequent 24 hours, the weather office said. PTI