400 people evacuated from Cauvery banks in TN

Nearly 400 people were evacuated and lodged in Namakkal and Erode districts in Tamil Nadu on Sunday after excess water released from brimming Stanley Reservoir in Mettur inundated their homes.

With Mettur dam receiving more than one lakh cusecs of water due to heavy rainfall in catchment areas in Karnataka, the quantum of water being released from the reservoir stood at 1.25 lakh cusecs on Sunday.

The state government has asked collectors of Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Karur, Trichy, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Pudukkottai, Perambalur and Ariyalur to be on high alert to handle any flood-like situation.

In Namakkal district, 276 people from 76 families in Kumarapalayam were moved to relief centres on Sunday morning as the streets where their residences are located got inundated. Additionally, members of another five families living in Pallipalayam-Agraharam village have also been moved to safety.

Namakkal collector M Asia Mariam told DH that all facilities were being provided for people evacuated from the residences at the relief centres. “We moved them to safety and police and revenue department officials are on high alert to ensure that there is no flooding. If the water level increases beyond a point, we will consider moving those living in low-lying areas to safety,” she said.

In neighbouring Erode district, over 50 houses in Bhavani and Kodumudi were flooded and residents were moved to relief centres, while in Salem district there were no evacuations on Sunday.

Salem Collector Rohini R Bhajibhakare told DH that though the outflow from the Mettur Dam stood at 1.25 lakh cusecs as of 6 pm on Sunday, there were no fresh evacuations. “We had rescued 11 families living on the banks of the river on Saturday and lodged them in relief centres. But they went to their relatives’ houses on Sunday. We are not allowing them to go to their homes since there is possibility of inundation,” she said.

People living in low-lying areas are being evacuated since Mettur Dam, which is the lifeline of farmers in the Delta region, has achieved its full reservoir level for the second time in three weeks. The reservoir achieved its full level of 120 feet on July 24 after a gap of five years.