What went wrong at Sathanur dam: Could the floods have been avoided?
The Hindu
Cyclone Fengal causes historic floods in Tamil Nadu, raising questions about dam management and flood prevention measures.
Data show that Cyclone Fengal brought the highest rainfall recorded in the last 70 years to upstream areas of the Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu. The dam, which was already close to its full capacity days before it received water from the rainfall, flooded villages downstream.
Could the floods have been avoided? Last week, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami alleged that the release of water from the dam, without prior notice, had caused the floods. PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said, “If water had been released gradually, such a big catastrophe wouldn’t have happened.”
The DMK government has denied these claims, stating that proper protocol was followed in managing the dam and issuing flood warnings. An analysis of rainfall figures and of data on the dam’s storage and flow explains the event.
Map 1 shows various taluks in the Pennaiyar river basin and the location of the Sathanur dam.
Tables 2A-2C show the top 10 wettest days between January 1954 and December 2024 in three immediately upstream taluks of the dam — Harur, Uthangarai, and Chengam. In Harur, 251mm of rainfall was recorded on December 2, the highest in the last 70 years by a wide margin. In Uthangarai, 185mm of rainfall was recorded on that day, the second highest in the period. In Chengam, 115mm of rainfall was recorded, the seventh highest for that place.
Data also show that the downstream taluks of the Sathanur dam recorded copious amounts of rainfall, which increased flooding in the Thenpennai river.
Tables 2D-2F show that in downstream areas such as Thandarampattu and Tiruvannamalai, the amount of rainfall recorded on December 1 and December 2 was so high that those days feature in the top 10 list of the wettest days in the last 70 years. In Sankarapuram, the 255mm received on December 2 was the highest in 70 years.
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