Relief centres set up in TN dist as Cauvery water level rises

Chennai, Aug 4 (IANS) Relief centres were opened in Erode district of Tamil Nadu as Cauvery river is in spate, officials said on Thursday, adding 2 lakh cusecs of water was released from the Stanley reservoir in Mettur.

Around 200 houses located on the banks of the river at Bhavani and Kodumudi in Erode district were inundated by the water flow.

At least 143 families comprising 490 people were shifted to relief camps in Erode district on Thursday.

Water entered the houses in Kandhan Nagar, Cauvery Nagar, Pasuveswarar Street and Cauvery Street — all in Bhavani municipality and in Elupullai Thoppu in Kodumudi municipality, and people from these houses were immediately shifted to relief centres.

With the water level increasing since Wednesday night, the district administration had opened relief centres and had made precautions to shift people if homes were inundated and on Thursday, families were shifted and household items were shifted to safe locations.

The Tangedco officials cut off power in the region after a transformer was inundated in water in the Bhavani market area.

Meanwhile, a flood warning was issued along the banks of Aliyar river after copious rainfall continued in the Western Ghats. The inflow in the Aliyar reservoir was steadily increasing and reached 118 ft with the full reservoir level (FRL) at 120 feet, and the outflow to the river has increased.

In the Nilgiris district also, red alert has been issued with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) units being deployed in the district which is expected to receive heavy rains on Friday.

Four units of NDRF have been deployed in The Nilgiris district and Kanniyakumari district following heavy rains.

–IANS

aal/pgh