Rain surprises New Year revellers

MADURAI: An unusual rainfall on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday surprised many New Year revelers in the region.
Elderly people termed it as unusual since they have not seen rain on a New Year day. And for many residents, it was a first time experience.
Maruthanadhi in Theni district received the highest rainfall of 70mm. While Madurai city received 16,5mm of rainfall, Mettupatti in the district received 40mm of rainfall and hill station Kodaikanal received 10mm.
Public Works Department sources said it was unusual rainfall at the end of year but will be useful to agriculture in the region. “The rainfall was not widespread though and catchment areas did not receive any rainfall at all except 2mm rainfall in Vaigai dam area,” a PWD official said. On Thursday, water level at Periyar stood at 128.50 feet with storage of 4,374 mcft.
The inflow to dam was 465 kcusecs while 1,452 cusecs being released from the dam. Vaigai dam level was at 37.37 feet with inflow of 1,247cusecs, mostly water released from Periyar dam. The storage was 754 mcft while 1,860 cusecs being released for irrigation in which 1,800 cusecs meant for irrigation of double and single crop areas and 60 cusecs for drinking water needs of Madurai city. “In my entire life time, I have never witnessed rains on New Year night though we have seen rains on Christmas before. It is something unusual,” opined 63-year-old Joseph Barnes, a retired HR executive. The sudden rain will be beneficial for agriculture, according to farming community.
Fortunately, the double crop areas started their cultivation late last year, hence the unusual rains will not cause extensive damage to harvesting of paddy crop.
R Arulpragasam, a farming community leader, termed the sudden rain as heaviest of the season. “There will be one rain in Tamil month of Margazhi (December – January), which we call it as ‘Karpavottam’ – a life saver in the end of monsoons. But we don’t think Wednesday rain was Karpavottam as it rained heavily,” he commented. Moreover, weeklong depression has helped farming community since it has reduced pest control.
“The night temperature has not fallen much and pest attack is minimal,” said Arul. Even on Thursday evening, dark clouds hovered on most of the region predicting possible rainfall by night.