With a considerable increase in the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam, Kerala has asked Tamil Nadu to initiate urgent measures to keep the storage in the dam at a manageable level.
The water level in the dam reached 134.85 ft at 10 p.m. on Saturday, an unprecedented increase of over 10 ft in two days. The maximum level of the dam is 142 ft. There was an inflow of 8,143 cumecs while the discharge was 167 cumecs.
In the event of the water level touching 136 ft, Tamil Nadu should draw water from Mullaperiyar to the Vaigai dam. Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta has written to his Tamil Nadu counterpart K. Shanmugam in this regard, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Kerala should be warned at least 24 hours before the spillway shutters are raised, the letter said.
The water level in the Mullaperiyar dam which stood at 116.20 ft on August 3 shot up to 131.25 ft at 2 p.m on Friday. The dam recorded a rainfall of 198.4 mm for the past 24 hours, Mr. Mehta said adding that immediate steps should be taken to release water in phases. The details of the water level in the dam and the water flow should be handed over to and discussed with Kerala. There was heavy rainfall in the State, especially in Idukki, leading to a heavy inflow of water into the dam, he said.
A flash flood on Thursday night inundated Vandiperiyar, Karinkulam Chappathu, and Upputhara towns downstream of the dam destroying the Santhipalam bridge and damaging the Kartinkulam Chappathu bridge. Though the water receded in the morning on Friday, the continuing rain was a cause of concern for the people.
In the August 2018 flood, downstream areas of the dam suffered heavy damage after the dam was opened leading to release of water from the Idukki reservoir downstream.
As the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put Idukki on red alert on Sunday also, the administration has taken steps to open relief camps in case of an emergency.
The shutters of the Poringalkuthu dam have been opened with the water level rising in the Chalakudy basin. Kerala has also requested Tamil Nadu to ensure interaction between Kerala and Tamil Nadu engineers when water is discharged from the dams in the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) system.
(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram bureau)