The Salem district administration has issued a flood alert in the water-spread areas of the Mettur dam as the inflow into the dam has been steadily increasing since the early hours of Saturday.
District Collector S.A. Raman has advised people residing in low-lying areas in the vicinity of the dam like Moolakadu, Palavadi, Kottaiyur, Kaveripuram, Govindapadi, Karungalur, Chetiyur, Chinna Mettur and Koonandiyur to move to safer areas along with their cattle and valuables.
The district administration has advised fishermen to avoid fishing in the water-spread areas of the dam. It has also advised the public to refrain from swimming and venturing into the waters for taking selfies.
Various teams, including officials from the police, revenue, fire and rescue and fisheries departments and persons trained in disaster management are being formed and kept on standby to avert untoward incidents.
Revenue and fisheries department officials issued alerts to low-lying areas on Saturday morning. Revenue officials said village- and taluk-level inter-departmental coordination committees had been constituted following the increased inflow into the dam. Two relief camps were ready to facilitate rehabilitation efforts, officials said.
As of 8 p.m. on Saturday, the water level at the Mettur dam was 61.88 ft as against a total scale of 120 ft. The stored capacity of water at the dam was 26,108 mcft and the inflow into the dam was 82,000 cusecs. The outflow was being maintained at 1,000 cusecs. The inflow at Biligundlu was 93,000 cusecs.
According to officials, 1.25 lakh cusecs of water is being released from the Kabini and about 50,000 cusecs from the KRS dam.
Inflow at Hogenakkal
At Hogenakkal, the inflow has crossed one lakh cusecs. Police and revenue officials are on high alert and alerts have been issued in areas like Muthalapanai, Oothamalai and Valampadi. Police personnel have been deployed on the path leading up to the main falls and the coracles, and patrolling has been increased in the area, officials said.
In Dharmapuri, revenue officials said 46 people from nine families residing in vulnerable areas were being evacuated. Officials said people were being evacuated from areas like Nadar Kottai, Puliyamarathu Kombai, Nagar Kovil and Mudalapanai, and a relief centre was on standby.
Officials said all 17 families from Pulimarathu Kombai were being evacuated.
CM orders water release
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has ordered the release of water from the Bhavani Sagar dam into the Thadapalli –Arakankottai canal and the Kalingarayan canal for irrigation, acting on a request from farmers. The water would be released from August 11 to December 8 and from August 16 to December 11, respectively. The move would benefit 1,43,747 acres in Gobichettipalayam, Anthiyur, Bhavani, Erode, Modakurichi and Kodumudi, among other places.
