Following heavy rains in the Nilgiris for over three days, the sluices of the Pykara Dam were opened here on Thursday.
The dam was filled to its capacity, touching nearly 100 feet by Thursday morning, owing to the downpour in the catchment areas such as Upperbhavani, Avalanche and Naduvattam, officials of the district administration said. The sluice gates were opened at around 8.30 a.m.
A warning was issued by J. Innocent Divya, District Collector, at 6 a.m. regarding the opening of the sluice gates. People of Mayar, Masinagudi and Thengumarahada were asked to move to safer locations ahead of the opening of the sluices.
The sluices of the dam were last opened on August 13, following the unprecedented rains that lashed the district. At that time, the water level touched 92 feet. Since then, the water level in the dam remained between 80 and 90 feet, officials said.
On Thursday afternoon, the sluices of Pilloor dam were also opened as the water level reached the maximum capacity of 97 feet. Nearly 13,000 cusecs of water was released from the dam, officials said.
According to the officials, the following were the rainfall levels in the district till September 5 morning: Udhagamandalam: 18.2 mm, Naduvattam: 111 mm; Kallatty: 10 mm; Glenmorgan: 56 mm; Kundah: 14 mm; Alavanche: 114mm; Emerald: 33 mm; Geddai: 1 mm; Upperbhavani: 99 mm; Coonoor: 3 mm; Ketti: 6 mm; Kotagiri: 3 mm; Kodanad: 3 mm; Gudalur: 146 mm; and Devala: 76 mm. The average rainfall recorded was 40.77 mm.