Heavy rains raise levels of dams, trigger mudslides in parts of Kerala

Heavy rains continued to lash parts of Kerala on Saturday leading to rise in water level of dams in Palakkad, Idukki and Thrissur districts.

The rains also led to minor mudslides in parts of rural areas of Thiruvananthapuram district, causing damage to homes.

Water levels in Walayar, Malampuzha, Moolathara, and Chuliyar in Palakkad dams approached their maximum storage capacities, prompting authorities to open the shutters by several centimetres.

Water levels reached the 'red alert' status in various dams, including Ponmudi and Madupetty, in Idukki and 'orange alert' status in Sholayar dam in Thrissur.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department informed that it would be releasing surplus water from the Periyar Dam.

It said that two radial surplus shutters of Periyar dam R2 and R3 will be opened to one meter by 12 noon and five vertical surplus shutters V1, V2, V3, V4 and V5 will remain open at 1.5 meters  The present discharge of water from the dam is 1780 cusecs (Cubic feet per second) and with the opening of the shutters, it will increase to 2,369 cusecs, it said in a statement.