Chennai, Oct 22 || Amid continuing heavy rainfall across the Chennai region, the Water Resources Department (WRD) on Wednesday issued high alerts to residents living along the Adyar and Kosasthalaiyar Rivers as surplus water discharge from Chembarambakkam and Poondi reservoirs was significantly increased to ensure dam safety.
At Chembarambakkam Lake in Kancheepuram district, the outflow was raised to 500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from 10 a.m., up from the earlier precautionary release of 100 cusecs initiated on October 21. Officials said the inflow into the reservoir, which stood at 2,170 cusecs at 6 a.m., rose sharply following overnight rainfall.
The lake, which has a full capacity of 3,645 million cubic feet (mcft) and a maximum depth of 24 feet, recorded a storage level of 20.84 feet (2,815 mcft), up from 18.52 feet last week.
The WRD engineers said the release is part of the standard flood management protocol to keep levels within the safe 21-foot limit. Residents of low-lying areas downstream, including Sirukalathur, Kavanur, Kundrathur, Tirumudivakkam, Vazhudiyampedu, and Tiruneermalai, have been advised to stay alert and shift to higher ground as the Adyar River level is expected to rise.