Coracle rides suspended at Hogenakkal

As many as 416 registered coracle riders will be affected by the decision of the district administration, though it is aimed at the safety of the riders and tourists. Coracle riders said that the rides will resume when the water flow comes down, but it is unlikely for the next few days. 

Heavy rains in the catchment areas and water released from the Kabini and KRS reservoirs touched 9,000 cusecs on Wednesday morning. This is expected to reflect with an increase at Hogenakkal and Mettur Dam in a couple of days. 

Steady increase in outflow from the two reservoirs in Karnataka has resulted in increase in the inflow here over the last five days. It is learnt that the inflow in the river crossing Biligundlu on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border was around 2,000 cusecs last weekend with increased to the range of 3,000 to 4,000 cusecs on Monday, 5,600 cusecs on Tuesday and 6,200 cusecs at 8 am on Wednesday.  

It is said to have further gone up to 7,000 cusecs at Mettur Dam on Wednesday evening. Public Works Department officials at Mettur Dam site said that at 8 am on Wednesday, the inflow was 5,789 cusecs and the storage increased to 28 feet with water storage going up to 6.75 TMC. The outflow was maintained at 500 cusecs.