Cheruthoni dam reopened; No need for panic, says KSEB

Idukki: Faced with a heavy overcast northeast monsoon, Kerala is bracing up for another deluge. As part of this, Kerala State Electricity Board and Idukki district administration have opened one shutter of Cheruthoni dam at 11 am today.

On Friday, the water level in the Idukki reservoir was 15 feet below its full reservoir level of 2, 395 feet.

50,000 lakh litre water per second is being released through the opened shutter of the dam. This will be maintained till 5 in the evening. A meeting will be held in the evening to decide whether to close the shutter or not.

KSEB has made it clear that there is no need to panic as only one shutter is lifted. However, people living on the banks of Periyar are alerted. At present, water level in the dam is 2387.5 feet.

With the opening of Idukki dam, 13 of the 14 dams under the KSEB have been opened. Nineteen dams of the irrigation department and 2 of the water authority have also been opened.

Altogether, 80 of the 83 dams in Kerala have been kept open.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had warned that a low-pressure area, similar to the one that caused the mighty August floods, has formed over the Southeast Arabian Sea and could transform into a cyclone and move in the northwest direction by Saturday afternoon.

Heavy downpour lashed parts of the state on Thursday, including the high-range areas of Munnar, rekindling fears of the disastrous August deluge. Alappuzha recorded the maximum rain at 122.8 mm that day.

Idukki continued to be on red alert on Friday while Palakkad and Thrissur districts that received heavy rainfall on Thursday have been taken off the alert radar. However, Malappuram has been warned about intense rains that could pour down as much as 12-20 centimetres in 24 hours.

Neyyar, Aruvikkara and Peppara dams in Thiruvananthapuram; Mattupetti, Malankara and Ponmudi dams in Idukki; Banasura in Wayanad; Peringalkuthu, Chimmini, Peechi and Sholayar dams in Thrissur and the Mangalam and Pothundi dams, apart from the Malampuzha dam - all three in Palakkad - have been opened for the calibrated release of water.

On Friday, the Thenmala Parappar dam at Kollam was opened raising its shutters by 5 cm each. By 2 pm Kakkayam dam in Kozhikode was also opened.

Overnight rainfall in Palakkad also caused a rapid rise in the water level in dams.

Shutters of the Malampuzha dam were opened in the afternoon as the water level crossed 114.03 metres.

Four shutters were opened 30 cm each and a warning has been issued to the people living along the Bharatapuzha and Kalpathipuzha.

Meanwhile, the 32 shutters of Thottappally spillway were opened on Friday night. It has been decided to open all the 40 shutters by Saturday afternoon.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked district collectors to set up the relief camps and it has said their occurrence was mandatory for the release of water from dams.

Fishermen who had gone out to sea were asked to reach the nearest place of safety before Friday and fishing activities had been asked to be dropped in entirety till the sea settles down.

The depression and cyclonic storm could also trigger heavy to extremely heavy rain in various parts of Kerala. Orange alert has been issued to Palakkad for October 8 and to Idukki for October 6 and 8. On October 7, Idukki and Malappuram has been placed on a red alert, indicating extremely heavy rainfall.

Palakkad has been issued a yellow alert for October 6 and 7. Till October 8, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Wayanad have been issued yellow alert warning inclement weather conditions.

On Sunday and Monday, Kottayam and northern districts of Kozhikode, Kasaragod and Kannur have been placed on a yellow alert.

The Indian Navy has put its air and surface assets at Kochi on high alert in view of adverse weather warning issued by India Meteorological Department, a Defence spokesman said Friday.

The Indian Navy has taken a number of steps for disseminating the information in various languages such as Hindi, English, Malayalam and Tamil – to the local populace and fishermen.

Based on a request by the Fisheries department, the Southern Naval Command has deployed its naval ships and Dornier aircraft deployed off Kerala coast and L&M Islands, to broadcast the weather warning to fishing boats at sea and advise them to return to harbour , he said in a release.

All out efforts are being made for the safety of local fishermen, he said. "All naval assets at Kochi, both air as well as surface, are being maintained at high alert to render any assistance to the state administration and local population in case of any contingency caused due to adverse weather', he said.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities have imposed restrictions on tourist activity at popular centres like Athirappilly and Munnar. Restrictions have been placed on tourist arrival at the Athirappilly waterfall from Friday.

Tourist travel to Idukki, including that to catch a glimpse of the famed 'Neelakurinji' flower, has been curbed, mostly shutting out the spot to the outsiders.