500 cusecs of water discharged from Red Hills

Dams in Villupuram overflowing, Cuddalore cut off

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Heavy rains in the catchment areas after Cyclone Thane hit Tamil Nadu coast on Friday morning has forced public works department (PWD) officials to open sluice gates of Red Hills reservoir and release 500 cusecs of water.

Public Works Department engineering-in-chief water resources department S S Rajagopal told Express that due to the heavy rains in the catchment areas the inflow in the reservoir was 1,390 cusecs and PWD is releasing 500 cusecs of water from the reservoir.

“We have released 200 cusecs of water yesterday following the intermittent rainfall and 400 cusecs in the morning. Now we are releasing 500 cusecs of water,” he said.

“We have asked our chief engineer to station at the the surplus area to monitor the situation,” he added.

Rajagopal said that his department was unable to have any contact with the officials in Cuddalore as trees have been damaged and power lines snapped. “We have sent a chief engineer from Chennai to Cuddalore to monitor the situation. He is facing difficulty in reaching the spot,” he added.

Rajagopal also said that due to surplus water in Veedur Anaicut in Villupuram district, the river is overflowing in Veedur dam. Similarly, in Villupuram district, Manimuthar dam is surplus by 2,000 cusecs and Gomuki Dam is surplus by 13,000 cusecs. “We are silt opening the dam to discharge water and silt,” Rajagopal said.

PWD officials are on alert in the 11 areas identified as vulnerable and have employed earthmoving machines to ensure free flow of water. “The rains have just started and we are taking precautionary steps in the eventuality of heavy rains on Saturday,” he added. He also said due to the rough seas in Chennai coast the PWD officials are maintaining a calibrated discharge of water.

In Games Village in Koyambedu, the water flow was blocked and corporation officials cleared it and water flowed into Virugambakkam canal, he added.