A shutter at the KRP dam here breached on Wednesday evening, triggering a flood alert in five districts along the Thenpennai river.
Shutter one (out of eight) at the Krishnagiri reservoir had initially breached laterally, causing the water to gush forth through the sides. Soon after, the shutter gave way to the force of the breach, letting out over 4,000 cusecs of water from the reservoir by Wednesday night.
Krishnagiri Collector C. Kathiravan issued a high alert and communicated it to the Collectors of Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Vellore, and Villupuram.
The water level in the reservoir prior to the breach was 51 feet as against the capacity of 52 feet. A low flood alert was already in place ever since the water level crossed 50 feet in August.
The outflow was 316 cusecs before the breach.
The reservoir was filling up to its capacity after eight years and has seen a consistent water level of 51 feet for the last three months. It continued to receive copious inflow from the Kelavarapalli dam in Hosur, which again is in its full capacity. The current water level at the Kelavarapalli dam is 42.5 feet as against the total capacity of 44 feet.
The breach has appeared just a year after all the eight shutters were repaired at a cost of ₹1.10 crore. To offset the pressure to the damaged shutter, shutter No. 5 was opened up to release 2,000 cusecs. Water from the dam was expected to be released in January for the second cropping season to irrigate over 25,000 acres directly and indirectly.
Speaking to The Hindu the Collector said that two beams in the shutter had breached to about a couple of feet and with the water pressure, the damage had aggravated. However, the Chief Engineer of Public Works Department would be in Krishnagiri on Thursday to assess and contain the breach.
