Tamil Nadu to open three shutters of Mullaperiyar dam today, Idukki on alert

With Tamil Nadu set to open three shutters of Mullaperiyar dam at 11.30 am on Friday as water level in the dam has reached the permissible level of 137 ft due to heavy inflow, the Idukki district administration said that 534 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water will be released from the dam and urged people downstream to remain alert.

Idukki District Collector Sheeba George said all precautionary steps have been taken to address the situation arising out of opening of the shutters. People living on the banks of Periyar river should remain alert, she said.

The water discharged from Mullaperiyar dam would flow to the state’s largest reservoir Idukki, where a blue alert (the first level of warning before lifting shutters) prevails since Wednesday. The water storage level at Idukki dam is at 74.10 per cent of capacity, which is 10 per cent higher than the storage level on the same day last year.

Kerala has been witnessing heavy rains and flooding this week with hundreds of residents being evacuated from flood-prone areas across districts and more than 20 deaths being reported.