IDUKKI: For the first time this year, the Mullaperiyar dam attained its Permissible level of 142 ft, forcing the authorities to open as many as 9 of 13 shutters on Tuesday morning.
The surplus water was released into the Periyar river by raising 5 shutters to a height of 60 cm and another 4 shutters by 30 cm.
As per the data by the Idukki district administration, the water level at the dam reached 142 ft at 5 am on Tuesday.
Even though the shutters of the dam was raised twice this year -- on October 29 and November 23 -- following a rise in water level, though this the first time that the water level in the dam is attaining permissible level.
On Sunday (Nov 28) noon, the water level in the dam was at 141.65 ft. As Tamil Nadu stopped the discharge via tunnels at 1 pm, there was a surge in water level to 141.85 ft by 7 pm the same day.
Despite Tamil Nadu restarting tunnel discharge at 7 pm on Sunday and raising one more shutter in addition to shutter V3, which was open from November 23, the authorities could not bring down the water level which crossed 141.90 ft by Monday at 9 pm.
Moreover, the heavy rainfall in the catchment area throughout Monday night resulted in the water level to rise to the permissible level of 142 ft at 5 am on Tuesday.
To discharge the surplus water, Tamil Nadu opened 9 shutters in a phased manner on Tuesday early morning.
The outflow from the dam was increased to 7,991.16 cusecs of water by 9 am. A total of 5,691.16 cusecs of water was discharged through spillways and 2,300 cusecs of water was released through the tunnels.
A flood warning was issued in the downstream areas. People living along the banks of the Periyar river and low-lying areas were advised to move to safe places.
As of now, the water level in Periyar has not raised to the danger levels, a resident in Vallakkadavu said.
Meanwhile water level in Idukki reservoir, which holds the released water from Mullaperiyar on Tuesday stood at 2,400.44 ft as against the Full Reservoir Level of 2,403 ft.