Coimbatore : Flood alert has been sounded on the banks of Amaravathi river in Tirupur district, which is in spate, even as about 500 houses submerged in Valparai in the district, which is bearing the brunt of South West Monsoon for the last few days.

According to official sources, heavy rains being experienced in the last couple of days resulted in Amaravathi dam brimming to full and surplus water being released in the river. In view of this, a flood alert has been sounded and the people living in low lying areas are asked to move to safer places, sources said.

SImilarly, flood warning persisted on Bhavani banks near Mettupalayam in the district as 57,000 cusecs of water being released from Pilloor Dam, which reached its full capacity of 100 feet, an official release said today.

In plantation village of Valparai, which is bearing the brunt of monsoon for the last one week, rain waters entered nearly 500 houses, requiring the inmates to be evacuated.

An old woman was washed away in the flood waters and search was on, even as holiday was declared for school in Valparai and Pollachi taluk for today..

Stating that the bus depot and diesel storage tanks submerged in the water, public transport were off the roads, they said that landslide and falling of tree on highway connecting Pollachi, disrupted the vehicular traffic.

As the water release from Mettur Dam in Salem District increasedto 1.70 lakh cusecs, the administration is warning the people in Rettiyur and Therkattikadu villages not to venture out and move to safer places, through public address system, they said.

Meanwhile a 17-member team from NDRF, armed with life saving devices, has been kept in readiness at Mettur to meet any eventualities following heavy discharge of water.