Surplus release from Mayanur barrage inundates houses, fields in Karur villages

KARUR: With the Mayanur barrage receiving an inflow of over two lakh cusecs of Cauvery water as on Friday evening, houses and fields in at least two villages in the district have come under water. Hundreds of residents in flood-hit areas have been shifted to relief camps.

The Mettur dam reaching its full storage capacity owing to incessant rainfall in catchment areas over the past few days has led to surplus water being completely released into the Cauvery. As a result, the inflow into Mayanur barrage saw a sharp rise from 44,955 cusecs on Tuesday to 1,71,846 cusecs by 6 pm on Thursday evening.

Even as sources attribute the increase in quantum of inflow at the barrage to the rise in flow in the Amaravathi and Noyyal rivers which drain into the Cauvery at Thirumukkudalur near Mayanur, by Friday evening the inflow into the barrage rose to 2,15,870 cusecs. This led to flooding at low-lying areas of the district. More than 30 houses in Thavittupalayam and around 75 acres of farmland in Kattalai village have come under water. Palanisamy, a farmer from Kattalai, said,

“Several acres of agriculture fields where we had cultivated coconuts, banana, and maize are inundated. This was the peak season for farmers to cultivate maize. When compared to farmers who had taken to coconut plantation, we who cultivated maize have been affected more as our crop is fully submerged. The government must assess all the damage and provide us with compensation.” Rajesh of Thavittupalayam said, “The floodwater gradually entered our houses by late Thursday evening.

Before we could realise the gravity of the situation, the whole village was inundated.” Meanwhile, the district administration along with the police and revenue departments advised residents of 148 houses in Thavittupalayam to immediately evacuate to two relief camps arranged by it. As many as 301 people from 101 families have been accommodated in the camps.

They are being provided with medical aid and food. A team led by Collector Dr T Prabhushankar and monitoring officer for the district and State Handlooms Department Commissioner TP Rajesh inspected the camps. The team later inspected the flow of Amaravathi at Aandankovil check dam, and the Mayanur barrage.