Discharge from Mettur dam down, flood waters in Tamil Nadu recede

The water level has begun receding in flood hit regions along the banks of the Cauvery river in Tamil Nadu and people housed in relief centres are returning home, officials said.

Significantly, the inflow from Karnataka reservoirs like Krishnarajasagar and Kabini has fallen to 80,751 cusecs on Wednesday from between two lakh cusecs to 1.6 lakh cusecs a few days ago.

“Only about 65,000 cusecs are being released from Mettur dam on Wednesday,” a top official told PTI.

With flood waters receding in villages off the banks of the Cauvery and Bhavani, people have started going back to their homes from most of the 119 relief centres which sheltered 13,569 people as on August 18, the official said.

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Water level receded in downstream areas of Mettur dam like Edappadi and Thavittupalayam, inundated following heavy inflows from Karnataka dams, which was let out from Mettur reservoir.

A Coimbatore report, quoting officials, said that the Mettur dam crossed the full level of 120 feet for the third time in the last 30 days.

The level stood at 120.25 feet.

The inflow late in the evening further dropped to

45,000 cusecs, they said, adding the discharge was hence scaled down to 40,800 cusecs.

The discharge from Kabini and KRS reservoir has come down since last night following scanty rains in catchment areas in Karnataka, they said.

The water level in Mettur dam reached its maximum of 120 feet on August 11 for a second time since July 23.

A flood alert had been sounded days ago for 13 districts, including the Cauvery delta regions, besides Madurai and Theni as the Periyar and Vaigai dams too received copious inflows.

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Also, water level in submerged standing crops has begun receding in areas around River Coleroon, a branch of Cauvery in Cauvery delta regions.

The situation in Bhavani, Komarapalayam, and Pallipalayam falling under Erode and Namakkal districts that bore the brunt of heavy discharge too is limping back to normalcy with a cut in discharge from Mettur.

On August 19, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami had inspected the deluge hit areas and assured compensation for crop loss due to the floods and permanent houses for the affected people.