Rains intensify, all 5 floodgates of Idukki dam opened
Idukki/Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 : With heavy rains continuing in Idukki, the authorities in Kerala were forced to open the remaining two more floodgates of the nearly overflowing Idamalayar dam on Friday afternoon even as the death toll reached 27 in the state. Rains in the rest of the flood-ravaged state has come down, a Met official said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is closely monitoring the situation and has cancelled all his engagements. He is staying put in his office in Thiruvananthapuram, coordinating with the various district authorities and the Kerala State Electricity Board, which controls the dam.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier had a word with Vijayan on the phone. Both took stock of the situation on hand as the Centre assured the state of all possible assistance.
With all the five floodgates of the Idukki dam opened, water is rushing down the Periyar lake causing huge loss to the crops and properties. The worst affected is the Cheruthoni town, located nearest to the dam.
Since the dam was last opened in 1992, a lot of encroachment have taken place across the banks of the river. Agricultural activities and houses have come up in the area.
Around 200 families who live on the sides of the river, have already been evacuated to safety as a matter of abundant caution.
The waters are all set to reach parts of Ernakulam and Thrissur district, and the district authorities in these two places are on a high alert.
It was on Thursday when the water level crossed 2,399 metres and one of the shutters was opened after a gap of 26 years. On Friday morning the authorities were forced to open two more shutters as the water level touched 2,401m.
But with heavy rains continuing unabated in and around the catchment area of the dam, the authorities were forced to open the remaining two.
As a result, the Cheruthoni bridge has come under severe stress with huge trees that have been uprooted coming and hitting the bridge.
The authorities have decided that the decision to keep open all the five floodgates will be for a specified period of time. The Army is already involved in rescue-relief and damage control exercises in several districts in the state.
Several districts in the state have been receiving heavy rains since Wednesday. Till Thursday 24 people had died, while three more deaths were reported on Friday.
Earlier Kerala Power Minister M.M. Mani who hails from Idukki, told the media there that the decision to open more shutters of the Idamalayar dam was taken to prevent the water level from reaching its full strength of 2,403 metres.
Mani had then also said: "This is not going to create any issue as we are soon planning to close down the shutters. We are confident that things can be controlled."
State Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekheran, who is camping in Ernakulam and coordinating the activities said five teams of the Army were taking part in the damage control exercises in Idukki, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram.
"The central team is also here to assess the damages that were caused by the rains in July. Now that they are witness to the current situation -- widespread destruction of crops and property, we are hopeful that they will be able to speed up their reports," said Chandrasekheran.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
