Following the torrential downpour in Chennai, Tiruvallur, and Kancheepuram districts the last couple of days, water levels in the four reservoirs have begun to increase.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department on Monday, heavy rainfall activity is very likely to continue over Tamil Nadu for the next two days as a result of the convergence of strong northeasterly winds. As of now, the combined storage in the four city reservoirs reportedly stand at 4091 million cubic feet against their capacity of 11,257 mcft. "The combined storage of 5 lakes as on today is 5200 mcft and remember our safe target of 6500-7000 mcft at December 31st. With more inflows expected tomorrow and Krishna water picking up, we can reach the 6500-7000 mcft figure with ease (sic)," TN weatherman Pradeep John's post on Facebook read. Apparently, the available storage in the four reservoirs would help sustain the current water supply for at least the next several months.

 In the wake of the 2015 floods, several reports had indicated that failure to ensure timely release of water from the Chembarambakkam Lake in Chennai during the Northeast monsoon season had resulted in the floods. The weatherman further added, "The coonoor regions rarely get rains in South West monsoon as their valley opens otherside from east and South West monsoon winds which are westerlies cant come inside the valley. But in North East Monsoon, easterlies are weak and rarely manage to go in with full moisture till nilgiris and they fizzle out crossing the coast few 100 kms inland. But when there is a low pressure which moves parallely up from Lakshwadeep to North Kerala, the easterlies are strong and will be SE in direction they come inside the Coonoor-Mettupalayam-Karamadai belt and gets trapped and cant escape anywhere till all the moisture are squeezed up (sic)."

An official from the Metro Water Department has reportedly said that there is no need to panic right now as the lakes are currently less than half full. "When there's a large quantity of water flowing out from stormwater drains and when the sea level too increases, it may take some time for water to drain and recede. Temporary flooding will be there, but it is nothing to worry about," he further added, according to a report from a news agency.