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The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has alerted the Idukki, Ernakulam and Kottayam district administrations about planned increase in discharges from the Idukki reservoir, which it controls.
The calibrated increases in discharges would come into effect from 11 am today, a communication from the KSEB to the respective district collectors said.
CALIBRATED INCREASES
Accordingly, the discharge would be raised by 200 cumecs to 1,200 cumecs at 11 am; 1,300 cumecs by 12 am; 1,400 cumecs by 1 pm; and a maximum of 1,500 cumecs by 2 pm.
This is in view of the renewed heavy rain and resultant inflows from the catchment areas as also the release from the Mullaperiyar dam from early this morning by the Tamil Nadu government.
The water level at Idukki at 11 am was at 2,398.82 ft as it started inching up under the influence of unrelenting rain. The full reservoir level is 2403 ft, with spillways at nearby Cheruthoni dam.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has convened an urgent high-level meeting here this morning as the State slipped under another debilitating phase of a resurgent monsoon.
No district seems to have been spared from the latest outrage as heavy rains, commandeered by a well-marked low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, lashed its length and breadth.
And there is no respite yet, with more rain being forecast until tomorrow, as the well-marked 'low' gradually intensifies into a depression.
COCHIN AIRPORT CLOSED
Meanwhile, the Cochin International Airport administration has announced that the airport shall remain closed for four days until Saturday given flooding of the runway, parking bays and operational area.
The decision was precipitated by the opening of the Mullaperiyar spillway that directs some of the water into the Kerala side of the Periyar River that feeds a canal around the airport perimeter.
Earlier this morning, at around 2.35 am, the Tamil Nadu government had opened the 13 shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam by one feet, though three of them were closed after two hours.
In it forecast outlook for today, India Met Department (IMD) has held out the threat of continued rainfall for most parts of Kerala and Karnataka while being very heavy over Odisha.
Heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls is likely over Odisha while it will be heavy to very heavy rain over Coastal Karnataka and Kerala.
Elsewhere, heavy to very heavy rain is forecast for Chhattisgarh, South Interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and heavy rain over East, Central and North-West India.
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