The State received a surge of 10,000 cubic feet per second on a single day on Saturday with Karnataka stepping up release of water into the Cauvery. The flow increased from 85,000 cusecs at 10am to 96,000 cusecs by 6pm on Saturday, as recorded by the gauging station in Biligundlu in Krishnagiri district.
Sources in the Central Water Commission told The Hindu that the inflow continued to rise gradually and is expected to touch one lakh cusecs on Sunday morning.
“Only during the monsoon period in August 2008, the inflow recorded one lakh cusecs,” the source added.
Dharmapuri district administration has already issued a flood warning to the people living on the banks and low-lying areas. Bathing and coracle services at Hogenakkal falls were also banned.
Inflow doubles
Meanwhile, the water level at Mettur dam crossed the 90-feet-mark on Saturday morning. Though PWD officials said that the exact inflow over the day and level would be known only on Sunday morning after measurement, they said the inflow has doubled in a day from 25,696 on Friday to 52,701 on Saturday. “The inflow will rise further,” an official said. At present, 3,000 cusecs of water were being released from the dam from 8am on Saturday in addition to 3,800 cusecs already being discharged. On Saturday morning, the dam level was 89.59 feet while the storage level improved by five thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft), from 47.98 tmc ft to 52.18 tmc ft.
