Authorities discharge surplus water from TN's Mettur dam, warn of floods

Coimbatore: The release of surplus water from Mettur dam is likely to be increased to an extent of about 1.10 lakh cusecs in view of heavy inflow of water from Karnataka and an alert has been sounded to the people living along the banks of river Cauvery in delta districts of Tamil Nadu, official sources said on Saturday.

With heavy rains being experienced in the catchment areas in Karnataka, the surplus water from Krishna Raja Sagara Dam (KRS Dam) and Kabini to the tune of 85,000 cusecs is being let out to Stanley reservoir in Tamil Nadu, popularly known as Mettur dam.

Since the dam has reached its full water level of 120 feet two days ago, the surplus water being received is discharged as it is through all the 16 sluice gates and it is expected that the discharge is likely to be increased to 1.10 lakh cusecs., official sources said.

The authorities have issued flood alert to the people living in the low lying areas and also along river banks in as many as nine districts. They have been taken to safer places. People have been advised to not go near banks of river Cauvery, they said. In Erode, officials said that as part of precautionary measures, people living on the banks of Cauvery river have been taken to flood relief camps.

From Bhavani town, more than 200 families were evacuated to the relief camps with the help of revenue officials on Saturday.

The Erode district officials said that they are expecting discharge of more water into the Cauvery river and round the clock patrol has been ensured. Due to rain for the past two days at Anthiyur, Burgur and Ammapettai areas in Erode district, the ‘Annamaduvu’ water tank started overflowing on Saturday morning. The flood water entered into few houses. Further, three to four feet of water discharged from the tank started flowing on the Anthiyur-Erode main road. As a result, the vehicular traffic was diverted.