Heavy downpour lashes distt, 10 gates of Totladoh opened
   Date :19-Sep-2019

 A panoramic view of the beauty of Ambazari lake spillover point was captured by ‘The Hitavada’ lensman Anil Futane.
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Heavy downpour on Wednesday late night too 
 
For years, spillover from Ambazari lake has been the measure of good rainfall. The spillover was in full force, following the heavy downpour in two spells on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. It rained cats and dogs in rural areas and catchment area of Totladoh reservoir too. As a result, 10 gates of the reservoir were opened on Wednesday. On Wednesday late night, one more spell of heavy downpour started in the city. Around midnight on Tuesday, lightning came as a messenger of downpour. Soon, it started raining heavily.
 

 
The incessant rain finally made Nagpurians witness Ambazari Overflow. People thronged at the sight to grasp the beauty. This picture was taken by Dr John Menacherry, former Principal of Matru Sewa Sangh Social Work College.
 
 
The rainfall only intensified in the next one hour and it was difficult for anyone to sleep calmly, due to thunderous noise and battering of raindrops on tin-sheds, rooftops, window panes, and parked vehicles. Within a short span of time, the nullahs started overflowing. In fact, given the situation that prevailed in various parts of the city even after rainfall stopped for a while, one should say that the ‘road-streams’ were in full spate. At many places, waterlogging was witnessed... once again! Particularly, many intersections, were waterlogged as water from cement roads poured in from all sides. In the posh Information Technology Park in Gayatri Nagar, where only one side of concrete road is constructed, the other dug-up part turned into a small river and water from nearby lanes and by-lanes flew towards the point where this road meets Ring Road.
 
There, a small puddle was formed. The vehicles had to wade through such water puddles formed in many other parts of the city, including at Rahate Colony Square, Mangalmurti Square etc. After a short break, second spell of heavy downpour began around 2.30 pm. Again, the thunderous noise of lightning and battering sound of rains filled the atmosphere across the city. By early morning, it stopped. On Wednesday, the morning walkers passing by Swami Vivekananda Statue on the banks of Ambazari lake were greeted by a pleasant sight.
 
The spillover from Ambazari lake was in full force. The view was simply mesmerising. People could not resist stopping by and clicking pictures in their mobile phone cameras, and later posting it on social media platforms. In fact, by evening, even Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) shared the photos and video on social media. Of course, NMC remained silent on waterlogging that has become a routine affair after every heavy downpour! Meanwhile, it did not rain heavily only in Nagpur city. It rained cats and dogs in the catchment area of Totladoh reservoir too. According to our Ramtek Correspondent, Totladoh reservoir the storage in Totladoh reservoir reached 100 per cent of its designed storage capacity, the highest since 2014 at least. As a result, on Wednesday afternoon, 10 gates of the dam were opened up to 30 cm each. The storage in reservoir also increased due to increase in water level in Machagora dam at Chourai in Madhya Pradesh, and release of water from there. The gates of Totladoh reservoir had to be opened on September 11 and later were closed on September 14.
 
 
 Ten gates of Totladoh reservoir were opened on Wednesday afternoon following good rainfall in catchment area on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
 
Storage in Totladoh at 99.61% of its capacity As per the data of Water Resources Department (WRD), the storage in Totladoh reservoir on Pench river was 99.61 per cent of its designed storage capacity on Wednesday morning. It is the highest storage, since at least the year 2014. The designed storage capacity of Totladoh reservoir is 1,016.88 MM3. On Wednesday morning, the actual storage was 1,012.93 MM3. As on September 18, the year-wise actual storage in the past few years was as follows: 2014 -- 901.51 MM3, 2015 -- 954.78 MM3, 2016 -- 738.12 MM3, 2017 -- 273.98 MM3, 2018 -- 287.37 MM3. Besides, the actual storage in Navegaon Khairy reservoir also was 98.60 per cent on Wednesday morning. As against designed storage capacity of 141.74 MM3, the actual storage on Wednesday morning was 139.75 MM3. As per the data with WRD, four gates of Navegaon Khairy reservoir were opened up to 0.30 metres.