Steady increase in inflow to Mettur dam

COIMBATORE: After a short respite, the fears of flooding has once again gripped people in Western districts as inflow into Stanley Reservoir in Mettur has gone up marginally on Sunday.

Hundreds of people were displaced in Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts after water gushed into their houses in areas nearby the flooded Cauvery River. Inflow into the reservoir peaked to 2.10 lakh cusecs on Thursday.

Then, the inflow began to reduce gradually as rains abated in the Cauvery catchment areas. From 1.77 lakh cusecs on Saturday morning, the inflow came down to 1.10 lakh cusecs at night.

Gradually the water also began to recede from lowlying areas giving hope for displaced people to get back to their houses. However, once again, the inflow into the dam rose marginally to 1.15 lakh cusecs on Sunday morning to 1.20 lakh cusecs in the afternoon and further to 1.30 lakh cusecs in the evening.

Inflow at Biligundlu, the entry point of Cauvery into Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, stood at 1.45 lakh cusecs at 4 pm.

The entire water flowing into the dam, which reached its full reservoir level of 120.06 feet on July 16, is being discharged. Due to flooding, the public were not allowed to use the bridge over Cauvery River and also the bridge near the 16 eye sluices.

Meanwhile, the flood alert continued and people were asked to desist from entering the flooded river. Tourists were barred from visiting the Hogenakkal falls and coracle rides remained suspended.

In the Nilgiris, heavy rains continued to lash the district resulting in incidents of tree falls and mud slips on Pandalur-Gudalur Road, Ooty-Kotagiri Road and Sholur area.