Tirunelveli: The Thamirabarani river is in spate due to heavy discharge from the Papanasam and Servalar dams in Tirunelveli district on Wednesday.Having reached their maximum capacity, inflow to the two dams is now fully discharged into the river. According to PWD sources, the Papanasam dam that received 60 mm rain during the 24 hours ended 8 am on Wednesday, had an inflow of around 6,000 cusecs.
However, to maintain the water level at a safe limit, the entire inflow was discharged.Similarly, the Servalar dam that experienced 50 mm of rain in a single night on Tuesday, continuously discharged around 4,000 cusecs of surplus water. The discharge of 10,000 cusecs from the two major dams caused floods in the Thamirabarani.
The flood situation is said to continue for the next couple of days as rain continued in the catchment areas in all the major reservoirs. Further, the Chief Minister’s order to release water from Manimutharu dam is also expected to increase the flow in the river.
The farming community, however, feels that the discharge from Manimutharu dam that still falls short by 13 ft, against its full capacity of 118 ft as on Wednesday, will only wastefully drain into the sea. As the water flow in the river has crossed its danger mark, the district administration issued an warning for people living in the low-lying areas in the river basin.
