More water was released from Idukki reservoir following heavy rainfall on Saturday. District Collector Sheeba George earlier said that the shutter 3 of the Cheruthoni dam which was raised to 40 cm on Thursday, would be further lifted to one metre to release 100 cumecs of water at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The water level reached 2,399.98 ft at 10 a.m. The upper rule level is 2,400.03 ft.
The collector said that a decision on opening the dam was taken after consideration since the chances of water increasing above the upper rule level were high. She said that people living close to the Periyar bank should be careful not to cross the river and should not take bath there.
There was a storage level of 98.39 %. The full reserve level is 2,403 ft.
The catchment area of Idukki reservoir received a rainfall of 26.4 mm as recorded on Saturday. The power generation at the Moolamattom power house continued to be at the maximum level.
The two spillway shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam were raised to 30 cm each at 6 a.m. on Saturday. The release of more water in to the Periyar resulted in a heavy inflow in to the Idukki reservoir.
The Mullaperiyar shutters were opened in the wake of water level crossing the upper rule level of 141 ft. It was 141. 10 ft at 10 a.m. The water level rising even after releasing more water increased the chances of opening more shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam. Tamil Nadu was keeping open one of the shutters to 10 cm after closing the four shutters on Friday.
