Over 550 houses near Cauvery and Bhavani rivers remain flooded in Erode district

ERODE With River Cauvery and River Bhavani continuing to carry surplus water, flooding over 550 hous

With River Cauvery and River Bhavani continuing to carry surplus water, flooding over 550 houses, a total of 491 families, comprising 1,537 persons, remain in nine relief centres across the district on Wednesday.

At 2 p.m., the discharge from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur into the Cauvery stood at 1.40 lakh cusecs as against 1.45 lakh cusecs in the morning. The water level was maintained at its full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet while the storage was also maintained to its capacity of 93.470 tmc ft.

Likewise, discharge from Bhavanisagar reservoir into River Bhavani stood at 15,000 cusecs compared to 25,000 cusecs on Wednesday morning. The water level stood at 102 feet against the FRL of 105 feet while the storage was 30.31 tmc ft against the capacity of 32.80 tmc ft.

Water from River Bhavani entered low-lying areas at Somasundarapuram and Keelkarai Street in Bhavani and a total of 170 families, comprising 525 persons, continued to be in two camps since August 8. Water from the Cauvery entered houses located in Bhavani and Vairapalayam in Erode city and Kodumudi and 321 families, comprising 1,012 members, continued to be in seven camps for over a week. Thus, a total of 578 men, 645 women and 314 children were in camps and were provided food.

Tangedco officials had disconnected power supply to the houses located near the rivers and supply is expected to be restored only after water drains from the houses completely.

“Only if the discharge drops below 1.10 lakh cusecs in the Cauvery, water will stop entering the houses”, said a revenue official in Bhavani who heaved a sigh of relief as the discharge from river was reduced. The official said that if the water discharged in both the rivers were reduced significantly, it may take four days or a week for the residents to return home.

The River Bhavani, after running for 91 km in the district, confluences with Cauvery at Kooduthurai in Bhavani and officials continue to monitor the flow round-the-clock.