The much-awaited ‘Courtallam Season’, which attracts lakhs of tourists from various parts of the country, has been hit this year, thanks to the pathetic southwest monsoon.

The season between June and August attracts tourists every year, with the waterfalls at Courtallam comprising Old Courtallam Waterfalls, Main Falls and Five Falls overflowing after an active southwest monsoon. But this year’s season has not been so impressive from the beginning.

After a belated start of the monsoon, the waterfalls started getting water only after June 9 and suddenly moved to top gear after June 11. But the tourists were not allowed to take bath in mid-June due to heavy flood.

Even as expectations were high that the season would continue in the third and fourth week of June, the rain has stopped completely and water is just trickling down, leaving the tourists disappointed. Courtallam which is usually overflowing with visitors during the weekend, received only a small crowd on Saturday (June 20).

“We never expected this sunny day at Courtallam. We came here with a lot of hopes of having fun here with abundant water in all waterfalls. But we were disappointed and had to go to Paalaruvi in Ariyankaavu in Kerala,” said N. Ramasubramanian, a trader from Kancheepuram, who had come to Courtallam with his family.

The traders of Courtallam are hoping that the parents, who have been left with no money now after paying hefty tuition fee for their children in June, would come in July to take scintillating bath in the waterfalls.

“This is a regular phenomenon... Even though the season moves to peak every year during this time, only the traders and other upper middle class members would come in large number in June while others would wait for July after exhausting all their resources in tuition fee. So, we are hoping that things will improve in the first week of July,” said Senthurpandian, a trader from Courtallam.

However, the weather forecast says the southwest monsoon would not be that good this year, leaving the ‘Courtallam revellers’ frustrated.