As rains flood Cauvery catchment areas, 50,000 cusecs water released from Karnataka dams

CHENNAI: With Cauvery catchment areas continuing to receive heavy rainfall, leading to flooding, 50,000 cusecs of water have been released from the Kabini and Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dams in Karnataka to Tamil Nadu. There is a possibility of a further increase in water flow in the neighbouring state's dams, according to Daily Thanthi.

Karnataka has been releasing 22,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from these dams since Saturday, following heavy and continuous downpour.

Tamil Nadu officials, citing the report from their counterpart in Karnataka, told DT Next that they discharged 45,000 cusecs of surplus water from Kabini dam at 4 pm on Wednesday while 651 cusecs of surplus water were released from the KRS dam.

Due to this release, the main Hogenakkal Waterfalls located on the border between the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu and Chamrajnagar district of Karnataka, as well as the Cini Waterfalls, overflowed.

The water then flowed towards the Mettur Dam.

The water inflow in the dam increased significantly from 20,910 cusecs at 8 am on Wednesday to 21,520 cusecs at 4 pm on the same day.

The water level stood at 46.80 feet as against the full reservoir level of 120 feet, while the storage was 15.856 tmcft.

Cauvery catchment areas like Kodagu and Wayanad have been receiving heavy showers.

Due to this, the KRS, Kabini, Gorur Hemavathi, and Harangi dams in Karnataka have been recording a rise in water flow.

Notably, the Kabini dam has reached its full capacity. Other dams are filling up fast.