Heavy rains in Kerala; red alert sounded at Idamalayar dam

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Kerala on Wednesday, leading to copious inflows into reservoirs and sounding of a red alert at Idamalayar dam in Ernakulam district.

The rapid rise in water levels at the dam led the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) to prepone opening of the shutters to 6 AM on Thursday from 8 AM.

The KSDMA took the decision at its meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

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It asked the public not to panic and said that if the water level rises to 170 meters before 6 AM on Thursday, only one shutter would be opened and 82 cusecs released.

"The increase in water level downstream due to this limited discharge is estimated to be contained within the river banks," it said in a release.

KSDMA said that a decision on having a trial run to open the shutters of Idukki dam at 2,398 feet would be taken after assessing the situation on a concurrent basis and be announced subsequently, if necessary.

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The water level in the Idukki reservoir touched 2396.96 feet this afternoon against its full level of 2,403 feet.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department said various parts of the state received heavy to heavy rains in the last 24 hours, ending 8 am today.

Nilambur in Malappuram received 15 cm showers of rain, Vythiri in Wayanad 14 cm and Idukki 13 cm, it said in a release.