Mullaiperiyar dam, Idukki reservoir release water

WAYANAD: With the Mullaiperiyar dam and Idukki reservoir in Kerala releasing water to prevent any sudden pressure on their storage capacities, it has led to a rise in water levels in the Periyar river basin, district officials said on Wednesday.

Despite a rising trend in water levels of the Periyar river basin, officials said the levels are presently below the flood warning markings.

Idukki reservoir raised three of its shutters by 140 centimeters (cm) and two others by 40 cm to release 346.84 cumecs of water, district officials said in a statement.

There is drizzling in the area and water stored in the reservoir has reached red alert levels, it said.

Meanwhile, the Mullaiperiyar dam, which is managed by the Tamil Nadu government, continued to release water through its 13 raised shutters.

At 12pm it was releasing 8,480 cusecs of water, officials said.

In the morning, Banasursagar dam in Wayanad was at red alert water level status with three of its gates being opened 10 cm each to release around 24 cumecs of water.

In Mullaiperiyar dam, at 10 am, around 8,980 cusecs of water was being released through its 13 shutters which have been raised by 90 cm each.

Cusecs is the volume of water discharged measured in cubic feet per second. When the same is measured in cubic meters per second, it's called cumecs. One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litre per second.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted widespread and isolated heavy rainfall in the state during the day and on August 11.

The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) on Tuesday had said there are 213 active relief camps while most of them are in Alappuzha district (45), Thrissur (43) and Pathanamthitta (39). There are 9,275 people accommodated in the camps.

From July 31 to August 9, Kerala has been witnessing heavy rains, resulting in the death of 22 people. While seven were still missing and five got injured, the SDMA had said and added that 58 houses were fully damaged while 412 suffered partial damage.