CHENNAI: Intermittent rain since Sunday evening has prompted the Water Resource Department to release 250 cusecs per second of surplus water from the Chembarambakkam Lake, since the catchment area is receiving copious inflow.
As of Tuesday 6 am, water level at Chembarambakkam was 23.48 feet against its total capacity of 24 feet. Following this, flood alert has been issued to those living in low-lying areas at Thirumudivakkam, Adyar, Thiruneermalai, Sirukalathur, Kavanur, Kundrathur and nearby areas. Some people were evacuated to safer zones. The officials said release of surplus water could be increased, based on rainfall.
A senior official told TNIE that the total storage capacity of Chembarambakkam lake which is spread over 6,300 acres was 3,645 million cubic feet (mcft). As the lake received four TMC of pending water from Krishna and recent rain in catchment areas, it attained full capacity on Tuesday.