KANNIYAKUMARI: With incessant rainfall swelling the inflow into the Pechiparai dam, the Water Resources Department (WRD) on Saturday evening released 500 cusecs of surplus water, prompting officials to sound a flood alert along the banks of the Kodayar and Kuzhithuraiyar (Thamirabarani) rivers.
A WRD officer said the dam’s water level touched 44 ft against its full capacity of 48 ft, following a sharp rise in inflow that reached nearly 2,000 cusecs.
“To manage the increasing storage, 500 cusecs was released into the rivers at around 5 pm. Additionally, 400 cusecs has been discharged through the irrigation canals to meet agricultural requirements,” the officer added.
Kanniyakumari witnessed continuous rain through Friday and Saturday, with Nagercoil experiencing intense downpour on Friday night. Light to moderate showers persisted across the district throughout Saturday.
According to official data, Mylaudy recorded the highest rainfall in the 24 hours ending Saturday morning, receiving 74.4 mm. Nine other stations registered moderate rainfall.
Kottaram received 46.6 mm, Nagercoil 24.8 mm, Balamore 27.4 mm, Chittar-I 62 mm and Sivalogam- 34.6 mm. Kalial recorded 30.6 mm, Kuzhithurai 28.4 mm, Pechiparai 40.6 mm and Thirparappu 26.8 mm.