Chennai, Oct 27 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department (WRD) has issued a flood alert for 15 villages along the banks of the Thenpennai River after 1,000 cusecs of water was released from the Sathanur Dam in Tiruvannamalai district.
Tiruvannamalai District Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian in a statement on Sunday asked the residents in the affected villages to relocate to safer areas.
The Collector announced that local panchayat and revenue officials have been directed to take necessary steps to evacuate residents from low-lying areas.
He also cautioned residents against crossing the river due to the increasing water flow. In addition, flood alerts have been issued for the Harur and Pappireddipatti areas.
Fire and Rescue Services, along with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), are on standby for emergencies.
The WRD began releasing water from the Sathanur Dam after the water level reached 114.5 feet, nearing the dam’s full capacity of 119 feet.
WRD officials said that the dam has been receiving an inflow of 3,630 cusecs per second due to releases from the Krishnagiri Reservoir Project (KRP) and runoff from the Jawadhu and Kalyavaran hills following several days of heavy rain.
This is the third release from the dam since September when 850 cusecs of water were released.
The dam’s reservoir supplies water to 88 tanks along its route. Water from the Left Bank Canal fills 30 tanks in Tiruvannamalai and 10 in Villupuram, while the Right Bank Canal feeds 48 tanks in Villupuram.
Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has forecast heavy rainfall in the districts of Theni, Dindigul, Karur, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Nilgiris, Tirupur, and Erode on October 28.
Chennai is expected to experience moderate rain, along with thunder and lightning, over the next 48 hours.
Furthermore, the RMC has predicted heavy rain for Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Madurai, Sivagangai, Theni, and Dindigul districts in the next 24 hours, with moderate to heavy rain likely in various parts of Tamil Nadu in the coming days.