With more inflow from Karnataka, a flood alert has been issued at Hogenakkal, the popular tourist spot in Dharmapuri district.
“As the inflow continued for the second consecutive day on Friday, tourists were denied entry for bathing and coracle rides at Hogenakkal from Friday evening”, K. Vivekanandan, Dharmapuri Collector, told The Hindu over phone.
He said that the inflow of water at Biligundulu, where the Cauvery enters Tamil Nadu, was about 22,000 cusecs on Friday morning. “It dropped to 18,000 cusecs in the evening. But, we have received information from the Central Water Commission (CWC), Bangalore, stating that it would increase to more than 32,000 cusecs by 6 a.m. on Saturday. “This was because the CWC officials said that 22,000 cusecs water was released from the Kabini dam and an additional 10,000 cusecs was released from the KSR dam from Friday evening. The decision to close Hogenakkal to tourists was taken to avoid any untoward incident as more tourists throng the tourist spot during weekends”, he said.
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Mr. Vivekanandan said that arrangements have been made to ensure safety of people living in hamlets along the banks of the river. A meeting was organised for officials from the district administration, police, revenue, fire and rescue services and coracle operators of Hogenakkal on steps to prevent loss of lives and property, he said.
The Collector added that flex banners had been erected at 20 places warning tourists about the flood.
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The flow into the Mettur dam was 4,354 cusecs (for 24 hours from 8 a.m. on Thursday). Public Works Department officials at the dam said the level of water in the dam was 47.94 feet, as against its full reservoir level of 120 feet.
Water in the dam was 16.5 tmc against its full capacity of 93.4 tmc at 8 a.m. on Friday. The outflow was 800 cusecs, the officials said.