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Officials on alert as Tamil Nadu receives 56 per cent excess rainfall since June
Receiving substantial rains that have pushed up storage in many of the dams in the State even before the main monsoon season, the authorities have put Public Works Department and Revenue officials on alert to monitor the water flow. Tamil Nadu recorded 56 per cent excess rain since June.
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The State government has taken up pre-monsoon work, said Revenue and Disaster Management Minister RB Udhayakumar, adding that interdepartmental and desilting works have been intensified across the State. The Minister was reviewing the preparatory work at the State disaster management headquarters here on Monday.
“The District Collectors have been instructed to take precautionary measures in low lying areas, and periodically monitor rainfall in the catchment areas. The inflow into the major reservoirs in south and western Tamil Nadu are being monitored, and flood warnings have been sounded across Cauvery river basin,” said a senior official from Revenue Department.
Officials from PWD and Revenue have been put on alert to monitor the inflow into Hogenakkal, and Mettur, Bhavani Sagar and Pykara dams, the official added.
Earlier in the day, Minister Udhayakumar reviewed COVID-19 mitigation efforts in north Chennai and distributed corona kits and immunity medicines to the frontline workers. He noted that 87 per cent of the patients in Chennai have recovered, adding that the incidence has reduced in north Chennai too.
“Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zone, which had a large number of cases, is now limping back to recovery. The number of streets with positive cases has reduced to around 500 from the earlier 1,897. So far, more than 20,000 COVID tests have been conducted there,” Udhayakumar said.
Officials and health workers are monitoring the situation closely to reduce the positivity rate further, he said. At present, the rate in north Chennai is around 7 per cent, which is expected to reduce further by the end of August, Udhayakumar added.
Mettur dam level rising fast, discharge for delta irrigation stepped up to 10,000 cusecs
The release of water from Mettur dam to the delta region was increased to 10,000 cusecs on Monday. After maintaining an outflow of 1,000 cusecs since August 7, the release to the delta region has been increased to fulfil the requirements of farmers.
Meanwhile, the reservoir, which recorded its heaviest inflow of 1.3 lakh cusecs on Sunday evening, continued to receive the same quantum of water on Monday, too. However, the quantum of water flowing into the dam is likely to drop due to the decrease in discharge of water from dams in Karnataka, where rains have receded in the catchment areas.
The combined discharge from both Kabini and KRS dams stands at 30,000 cusecs at 9 am on Monday. There was a drastic fall in the release from 70,000 cusecs of water from KRS and 16,000 cusecs from Kabini dam on Sunday. Though the discharge has been reduced, the quantum of water at Biligundlu, the entry point of Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, continued to remain at 1.3 lakh cusecs on Monday morning.
With the storage level in Mettur dam reaching around 90 feet on Monday, the reservoir witnessed a steep increase in its storage level by over 25 feet just in the last four days. Similarly, Bhavanisagar dam in Erode district has been inching towards its full reservoir level.
The dam’s storage level was at 100.42 feet at 4 pm on Monday as against its full reservoir level of 105 feet. The inflow is at 6,795 cusecs.
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