Coimbatore : Flood alert has been sounded in five villages in Nilgiris District, following discharge of surplus water from Pykara Dam, which brimmed to its full  capacity of 96 feet due to week-long incessant rains.
   
The water in the dam and its adjacent Mukurthi dam, was steadily increasing for the last two days and the Pykara Dam started overflowing, official sources said.
   
This prompted the officials to  release surplus water from the dam this afternoon and the District Collector Innocent Divya ordered the people living on the banks and low lying areas in Mayar, Masinagudi, Thengumarada to move to safer places.
   
A total 136 persons from Indira Nagar, which witnessed landslide yesterday, were sheltered in a school as a safety measure.
     
Similarly, over 2,500 persons affected by the rains were shifted to 25 special camps here and to Gudalur.
   
DMK Presiden M K Stalin is expected here Sunday to visit the rain affected areas.  A Raja of DMK is representing the Nilgiris parliamentary constituency.
     
Meanwhile, with the release of 1.5 lakh cusecs from various dams in Karnataka, the water level in Mettur dam near Salem increased to 57.16 feet Saturday.   In view of the expected increase in Mettur dam inflow due to heavy discharge from Karnataka and rains in catchment area, the residents in low lying area have been advised to move to safer places.
   
In the meantime, there was some respite for Coimbatore from the rains as the sun came out in the first half of the day.
   
However, a two-year-old child was missing in the flood waters while five others were rescued and hospitalised in Sarkarpathi, a tribal hamlet near Pollachi in Coimbatore district