Flood alert as inflow at Biligundlu touches 78,000 cusecs

COIMBATORE" With inflows going up significantly, the Mettur dam is just five feet short of reaching its full reservoir level on Friday.

From 13.05 feet on Thursday evening, the storage increased by two feet to reach 115 feet on Friday evening. Significantly, the storage level has increased by nearly two feet in a day.

The inflow into the dam has gone up from 18,290 cusecs on Thursday morning to 43,892 cusecs on Friday morning and further to 60,740 cusecs in the evening. For Delta irrigation, 22,500 cusecs of water are released from the reservoir.

“If the current level of inflow continues, the dam may fill up in three days,” said an official of the Water Resources Department.

Meanwhile, the inflow into Biligundlu, the entry point of Cauvery into Tamil Nadu, increased to 78,000 cusecs on Friday evening. It is likely to go up further as the combined surplus discharge from Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dams in Karnataka surged to 81,110 cusecs.

Tamil Nadu received 57,000 cusecs on Friday, 6 am, and it increased to 70,000 cusecs around noon and further to 78,000 cusecs around 6 pm. Due to flooding in Hogenakkal, the district administration has banned tourists from bathing in the falls and stopped coracle services.

An announcement on flood alert was made by the revenue department staff through loudspeakers, asking people living in low-lying areas along the river bank like Hogenakkal, Ranipet, Ootamalai and Nadar Kottai to move to safe areas. Joint teams of police and the revenue department have also intensified patrols along the river banks.