CHENNAI : Characteristic of the monsoon which began on October 12, there was a dry spell for a couple of days at the end of the first week. Around October 20, the monsoon resumed and many regions in the State experienced heavy rainfall.

Vellore, one of the rain-shadow districts of the State, turned out to be the main beneficiary as it had been reeling under a drought for long. Arakkonam, Ambur, and Vaniyambadi experienced heavy rain last week. This was followed by another surprise — water in the Palar after several years.

What contributed to the significant flow in the river was the heavy rain catchment in Karnataka.

This week began with the monsoon becoming vigorous and causing rain in most regions in the State.

The western, central and southern parts of the State received heavy rain and Hosur, Musiri, Perambalur and Manamadurai were the recipients of heavy rainfall. Then came the "unprecedented floods" in the Cauvery. On Tuesday, Srirangam, one of the important holy towns in the State, faced floods.

The Cauvery river bund showed "signs of stress" in some areas. At one point, it appeared that the entire population of the town might have to be evacuated. However, thanks to timely action by the authorities, the town averted a disaster.

Record rain?

Though there were showers on Wednesday, the rain since the early hours of Thursday made a difference.

In the 24-hour-period that ended at 8.30 a.m. on Thursday, Nungambakkam received 27 cm while Meenambakkam registered 21 cm of rain.

According to the meteorological department, the all-time high rain in a day in the month of October was in 1969.

On October 22 that year, Nungambakkam registered 28 cm. And for Meenambakkam, the record rain on a single day was in 1943. On October 10 of that year, 23 cm of rain was registered.

However, the highest amount of rainfall in a day for Nungambakkam was 45 cm on November 25, 1976, according to S. Sridharan, Deputy Director General of Meteorology.

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