COIMBATORE: Heavy rainfall in the water catchment areas of the Siruvani and Pillur reservoirs raised water levels on Wednesday, prompting officials to issue a flood warning to people living downstream of the Pillur Dam, as the reservoir received an inflow of around 10,000 cusecs since Tuesday night.
At Siruvani, the water level rose from 30.34 feet on Tuesday to 32.41 feet on Wednesday, an increase of over two feet in a day, against the full storage capacity of 49.53 ft. The sharp rise followed intense rainfall at the dam and in its foothills. The reservoir recorded 136 mm of rainfall, while the foothills received 83 mm, compared to just 8 mm and 13 mm of rain recorded on Tuesday.
According to Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board officials, on Wednesday the Siruvani reservoir stood at 873.2 metres against its maximum level of 878.5 metres. Useful storage increased from 298.81 million cubic feet (MCft) to 328.34 MCft.
An official communication from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) said the Pillur reservoir level reached 96.5 feet on Wednesday, with the inflow touching about 10,000 cusecs due to continuous heavy rain in the upper catchment areas.
Although the dam has a full storage capacity of 100 ft, officials have restricted the water level to 97 feet for safety, as the level was expected to reach 97 ft by Wednesday evening.
At present, around 6,000 cusecs are discharged into the Bhavani River through two machines at the Pillur power house. Officials said spillway gates could be opened soon, depending on the reservoir level and dam safety requirements.
The Mettupalayam Tahsildar was asked to immediately caution people living downstream of the Pillur Dam as the authorities issued a flood alert.
