District Collector G. Govindaraj has asked the people staying close to the banks of Amaravathi River to remain cautious after there was a heavy inflow of water into the reservoir area of the dam on Thursday.
Due to this, water discharge rate too had to be increased correspondingly to ensure that the water level did not exceeded 88 feet against the total dam height of 90 feet.
“Rate of flow into the reservoir area has gone up suddenly to around 7,900 cusecs at around 4 a.m. on Thursday due to the increased inflow from Rivers Thennar, Sithar and Pambar.
The inflow rate dropped to 2,300 cusecs (cubic feet per second) by 4 p.m,,” Public Works Department (Water Resources Organisation) officials told The Hindu.
The water was released from the dam at 2,300 cusecs through Amaravathi River and at the rate of 440 cusecs through Amaravathi Main Canal, both at 4 p.m.
The authorities had stopped the release of water from the dam through Kallapuram and Ramakulam canals since the command areas of the canals received considerable rain during the last few days.
Crops
The water discharged from the dam would be beneficial to irrigate agriculture crops raised over a command area of 54,000 acres in Tirupur and Karur districts.
Minister for Forests M.S.M. Anandan along with Mr. Govindaraj and PWD Executive Engineer M. Kulanthaisamy inspected the dam area to assess the water level.

Source : The Hindu