Tamil Nadu Dam Levels: Water Level Rises In Reservoirs As Heavy Rains Lash Parts Of State

Torrential rains across Tamil Nadu's Western Ghats have brought several major dams to near-full capacity, prompting authorities to issue flood warnings in multiple districts.

The Papanasam Dam in Tirunelveli district has seen its water levels rise dramatically, with current storage at 2,900 million cubic feet (mcft) against its full capacity of 5,500 mcft.

The dam has only 60% storage and with the present rains it can fill up to 100% in a day or two. "Such is the intensity of rains. Inflow has jumped over 25000 cusecs. Papanasam dam," weather blogger R Pradeep John said. He added, "Parson Valley almost gets 1000 mm in 3 days. Rains continue to batter ghat areas of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Good inflow into Kabini and KRS dam. This year there wont be any problem with respect to Cauvery water sharing even though June 1st half will be off mark. overall things looks very good."

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast continued heavy rainfall in the Western Ghats and surrounding districts. In Tamil Nadu, Valparai in Coimbatore, parts of the Nilgiris (including Avalanche, Parson's Valley, Mukurthy, Devala, and Pandalur), Kanyakumari, Manjolai in Tirunelveli, and the Periyar dam area in Theni are expected to receive more downpours.

Across the border, heavy rains are also drenching Kodagu (Cauvery catchment) in Karnataka and Wayanad and Idukki in Kerala. Parson's Valley alone has received close to 1,000 mm of rainfall in the past three days.

This bodes well for water storage in key reservoirs. The Mettur Dam in Salem district stands at 111.81 feet against its full height of 120 feet, while the Bhavani Sagar Dam has reached 75.03 feet out of a total capacity of 105 feet. The Periyar Dam is at 118.1 feet, nearing its maximum level of 152 feet.