CHENNAI: In what could be a relief for the city, the release of water from the reservoirs around Chennai was reduced substantially on Friday. The outflow from the Chembarambakkam lake was reduced to 5,000 cusecs on Friday from 11,000 cusecs on Thursday. The relief was visible as many residential areas and roads that were inundated emerged out of the waters on Friday.
The release of water from the Poondi reservoir also was reduced substantially on Friday to 12,215 cusecs from the mammoth 36,484 cusecs on Thursday. This could mean that the areas flooded by the Cooum River water could see some respite, though the river may continue to flow in spate until the water discharge is further reduced. Around 4,070 cusecs of water was released from Red Hills on Friday.
While the city received very little rainfall over the last two days, the biggest headache was the overflowing Cooum and Adyar rivers due to the release of the waters from the reservoirs. The rivers not only flooded residential areas, but also cut off major arterial roads in the city by submerging the bridges across rivers.
Officials said they could reduce the outflow since the rains reduced on Friday. While Thiruvallur has been receiving about 1 cm rain, Chembarambakkam received about 1.2 cm. If the rains subside in the coming days, the release of water will be halted, officials said.