Storage level in dams, including Pechiparai and Perunchani, in Kanyakumari district reached the maximum permissible level in June itself – the first time in the last two decades – thanks to good monsoon, said Public Works Department officials here on Monday.
This year too, owing to good rain in the region, 804 cusecs of water had been released from Pechiparai dam after it reached the maximum level of 48 feet. With surplus water having been diverted into sea, flood alert had been issued in downstream areas along Tamirabharani river as over 2,000 cusecs of water was being released from these reservoirs.
“We want to ensure that the maximum level of 75 feet in Perunchani dam is maintained. The inflow is released in such a way that 150 cusecs is meant for irrigation and the surplus of 960 cusecs is let into the Tamirabharani,” officials said.
Chitraar I, Chitraar II, Mambazhathuraiyar and Mukkadal dams have also recorded the maximum level following widespread rain in the last three days.
Meanwhile, the West District Congress president Ashokan Solomon has appealed for adequate relief to people who had lost their dwellings owing to heavy rain. Many houses in coastal villages had been washed away and low-lying areas inundated. The government must provide relief materials on a war footing. The rain had claimed the life of a boy and hence the district administration should expedite relief efforts, he said in a press release.
