Heavy rainfall in Kerala’s Idukki; water released from a couple of dams

Idukki: Heavy rains forced authorities to release water from some small dams on Wednesday in Kerala’s high hill Idukki district, where the water level had reached close to the red level.

The Idukki district administration said permission has been given to release 500 cumecs of water from Pamba dam and raise two shutters of Kallar dam by 10 cm.

The administration said the permission was given in view of the heavy rainfall in the catchment area of both the dams and the increase in their water storage levels.

It advised people living along the banks of Periyar, Kallar and Chinnar rivers to remain alert and follow safety instructions issued by the authorities.

The Indian Meteorological Department had issued a yellow alert in Idukki and three other districts of the state on Tuesday. There are also reports of landslides in some parts of the state after heavy rains.

Local officials had said that more than an acre of agricultural land was destroyed in the landslide, but there were no casualties and no houses were damaged. ‘Yellow Alert’ means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.