Cauvery in spate; flood alert issued to nearby areas

COIMBATORE: River Cauvery is in high spate as 1.10 lakh cusecs of water has been released from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur following heavy inflow on Sunday.

Following copious rains in catchment areas, the inflow into the dam, which stays in its full reservoir capacity of 120 feet, since 16 July, surged and the entire inflow has been discharged. From 50,000 cusecs on Saturday morning, the inflow more than doubled to 1.10 lakh cusecs on Sunday morning at 8am.

As the entire inflow is released, a flood alert has been sounded in the Cauvery basin districts. Water entered several houses in low lying areas in Bhavani in Erode district and people were evicted to temporary relief camps. Due to heavy flooding, tourists were barred from visiting the Hogenakkal falls and coracle operations remain suspended in Dharmapuri.