Panic gripped two Kerala districts Palakkad and Thrissur on Wednesday after one of the three shutters of Parambikulam dam developed snags and automatically opened its entire height of 25 feet, resulting in release of 20,000 cuscus of water in a second.
Security officials camping in the area noticed the snag at 2 am and immediately alerted officials of the two districts who took immediate measures to shift people in low-lying areas and issued an alert. Irrigation engineer K Amruthavalli, camping in the area, said as the shutter was damaged completely repair work can be started only after releasing a major chunk of storage and it will take at least two days.
Though the dam is situated in Palakkad in Kerala, Tamil Nadu manages it and it is the major source of water for Coimbatore and other districts in the neighbouring state. After the snag, dam authorities were forced to open two remaining shutters to 10 cm each to prevent any damage to these shutters due to rising pressure.
“We are closely monitoring the situation. There is no need of panic but people living near rivers in two districts will have to be vigilant,” said revenue minister K Rajan. He said the TN government was informed about the serious issue adding the rule curve committee will be summoned to discuss the snag.
Tamil Nadu water resources minister Durai Murugan, who arrived at the dam site on Wednesday night, said it was an unexpected incident. “Timely intervention from Kerala has averted a big accident.”
Notably, every dam has a rule curve committee which monitors storage of water and maintains upper and lower limits and other parameters.
“We heard a loud noise around 2 am and water gushed out with high velocity. We immediately alerted officials who later opened two other shutters to ease pressure. Timely intervention averted a major mishap,” said one of the security officials who did not want to be named. He said favorbale weather conditions and weak rainfall in last two weeks helped salvage situation somehow.
After gushing water reached nearby Chalakudy river, two shutters of Peringalkuth dam in Thrissur district were opened, said district collector Haritha V Kumar. She asked people residing near the river to keep vigil and not to venture into water bodies for bathing or fishing in view of rising water levels. Since the stretch is also home to a variety of wild animals, wildlife wardens in two districts were also alerted. In 2018 floods, elephant herds were trapped in gushing water.
“Police and revenue officials reached our house in early morning and gave us one hour to shift. Now we are lodged in relief camp,” said P Varghese, one of the evacuated from the banks of Chalakudy r river. Famous waterfall Athirapally, favourite location for many filmmakers, is situated on the banks of the river.
Kerala irrigation officials said Tamil Nadu will be losing 2 TMC of water every day due to sang and it may affect water supply in many areas. The maximum storage capacity of the dam is 1825 feet and a team of experts from TN is working overtime to repair major snags in wheels and belt of the shutters, they said.
Former dam safety authority chairman of Kerala justice N Ramachandran Nair (retd) has blamed Tamil Nadu officials for the problem. “We have alerted them a number of times but they failed to heed our warning,” he said.
Environmental activist SP Ravi said timely intervention had averted a major mishap and asked authorities to keep a strict vigil on all dams in the state.
(With inputs from agencies)