1st alert sounded as Vaigai touches 66 feet

Officials cautioned residents of villages on the banks of the Vaigai to remain alert as the discharge may be stepped up any time due to which there may be increased flow into the river.

The second warning would be issued when the dam crosses 68 feet. The current inflow into the dam stands at 4,940 cusecs. If the inflow continues at the same level, the dam may reach 68 feet in the next couple of days. Though the full height of the dam is 71 feet, water will be stored only up to 69 for safety reasons. Once the dam attains the maximum storage of 69 feet, third warning will be issued and the entire inflow will be discharged as it is, officials said.

In the wake of the heavy inflow and discharge from the Mullaiperiyar and Vaigai dams, a flood alert has been sounded now in Theni and Madurai districts, Revenue minister R B Udaya Kumar said. With this, the alert has been issued in 13 districts. People at Mayanur in Karur district have been advised to move to relief camps with authorities expecting the discharge to touch three lakh cusecs on Saturday.

Ministers are camping in the districts to oversee relief operations. State Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed and inter-departmental teams are on standby as well, he said.

With the discharge from Mettur dam surging to 1.7 lakh cusecs and all the rivers in spate, more number of people, are evacuated and sheltered in temporary relief camps, in Erode and Salem districts. 

In Bhavani, water entered into 750 houses and more than 2,000 people were moved over to the relief centres. On Friday, about 150 houses in Jambai and Oricheri areas near Bhavani got flooded. An elderly couple Lenin (63) and Selvamani, 52, who were trapped in their flooded farmhouse, were rescued by the fire and rescue personnel after a long struggle. 

Erode district Collector S Prabhakar said that around 100 members of National Disaster Management Team have camped in the district to involve in rescue works in the flood-affected Sathyamangalam, Bhavani and Modakurichi areas.  

Several low lying areas in Salem and Dharmapuri districts were also flooded and people were moved to relief centres. 

As the inflow into Biligundulu, the entry point of Cauvery into Tamil Nadu has been receiving 2.10 lakh cusecs on Friday, the situation is likely to get worse in low lying areas in the coming days.