Palakkad: Three families – one from Irumbamutti in 9th ward and two from Palakkayam in the 7th ward of the Thachampara grama panchayat were moved to safer locations following the landslip caused due to flash flood at the Pandanmala hills near Mannarkkad on Friday evening.
“A total of three families were relocated to higher and safer places last night. Though it was raining heavily on Friday afternoon, the level of rainfall came down by night. Apart from the fact that the power supply has been completely cut off in our area, no untoward incident has been reported till now,” Thanooja Radhakrishnan, panchayat member from Palakkayam ward, told Onmanorama.
Due to the flashflood on Friday evening, several houses and shops were inundated. Police and fire and rescue services personnel had to be called in to rescue five persons stuck on the banks of the river at Irumbamutty.
Kanjirapuzha dam shutters lowered to 10 cm
All the three spillway shutters of Kanjirapuzha Dam in Palakkad were lowered to 10 cm at 7 am today, Palakkad District Collectorate said.
As the rainfall and inflow of the water to the dam reservoir reduced during the night, the shutters were gradually lowered to 20 cm from 70 cm by 5 am on Saturday. The shutters were raised by 70 cm on Friday evening due to incessant rain at the catchment area of the dam.
Currently, the water level has been reduced to 96.50 metres. The water level at the dam was 97.05 metres at 7.40 pm on Friday, while the maximum dam capacity is 97.5 metres. Since then, the dam officials have been closely monitoring the inflow-outflow ratio, informed Kanjirapuzha Irrigation Project Executive Engineer Levins Babu Cottur.
At the same time, an uprooted tree, drifted to the dam reservoir, is lying stuck at the central shutter of the dam and authorities said arrangements have been made to remove the tree.
