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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Heavy inflow into dams across Tamil Nadu

T. Ramakrishnan

Mettur dam recorded 9,200 cusecs on Tuesday
Trough in the easterlies

CHENNAI: Several dams in the State are receiving higher inflows in the wake of an un-seasonal rain spell in the southern parts of the State and Karnataka.

Regarded as the lifeline of the Cauvery delta, the Mettur dam at 4 p.m. on Tuesday recorded an inflow of 9,200 cubic feet per second (cusecs) against the normal 500 to 600 cusecs. A Public Works Department official at Mettur attributed it to the rainfall in Karnataka in the last two-three days.

On the corresponding day last year, the level of the dam was 79.7 ft and the storage 41.7 thousand million cubic feet. On the evening of Tuesday, the level stood at 92 ft with a storage of 55 tmcft. The full reservoir level is 120 ft and the capacity is 93.4 tmcft. Describing the rainfall as a prolonged one, a senior meteorologist says the rainfall is due to a trough in the easterlies. Till the week that ended on March 12, the State, as a whole, recorded two cm against the normal 0.9 cm. Since then, several parts of the State witnessed rain.

During the 24-hour-period that ended 6 a.m. on Tuesday, the Papanasam and Manimuthar dams, both located in Tiruneveli district, recorded 3 cm and 5 cm rainfall respectively. While the former recorded an inflow of 1,775 cusecs, the latter registered about 800 cusecs. The levels of the two dams were 91.15 ft and 84 ft respectively against the full levels of 143 ft and 118 ft.

The Mullaperiyar and Vaigai dams, both important for farmers in Theni and Madurai districts, recorded a little over one cm rainfall. Inflows to the dams were in the range of 1,400 to 1,500 cusecs.

According to the Meteorological office, most parts of southern districts received rainfall on Monday and Tuesday. Ramanathapuram, Sathankulam (Tuticorin district) and Sivakasi (Virudhunagar district) recorded 7 cm each while Theni, Pudukottai, Tondi, Ambasamudram (Tirunelveli district) and Sattur (Virudhunagar district) registered 5 cm each. Mudukulathur (Ramanathapuram) and Pamban received 4 cm each while Madurai experienced 3 cm rainfall.

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