Chennai : After months of despair because of dry farm lands, now the deluge.

Villagers are the Cauvery belt are today fearing inundation after Mettur Dam attains full capacity after five years. On Monday, Mettur Dam was releasing 50,000 cusecs per second sparking off fears of flooding and inundations in the 12 Cauvery delta districts. Water level in the Mettur dam reached 120 feet.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami issued a cautionary warning to people in villages in the delta region and also near Mettur Dam not to venture out into the water bodies without permission from the authorities. The administration in the affected areas were making announcements from time to time warning the people to stay safe.

Salem collector Rohini Bhajibhakre inspected the affected areas and reviewed administration’s preparedness to face the situation arising out of heavy water release from Mettur dam.

Five persons were washed away in the Cauvery waters in a village stream near Salem on Sunday.

Farmers in the delta region, however, are overjoyed that they can sow and harvest Kuruvai crop this year, the short-term fears notwithstanding. Water experts, however, lament that the excess water this year, will once again be wasted rather than stored for future use.

Still it is good news for the farmers, said Siva Subramaniam, water expert. Farmers in Thiruvaroor are readying to receive Cauvery waters and are making preparations for the next six months of farm activity.

It is the 39th time that the Mettur Dam has attained its full capacity in 84-year old history.

TN government officials said inflow into the Stanley reservoir is 30,000 cusecs from Kabani reservoir and 51,038 cusecs from Krishnarajasagar Dam in Karnataka.

The increase in Cauvery river water flow into Tamil Nadu is due to the bountiful rain in the catchment areas of Karnataka.

Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy had maintained that the state will have no problem in releasing water to Tamil Nadu but if his own state farmers were unable to get water, then Karnataka would have problems. Incidentally, the chief minister has convened a meeting of all political parties to discuss ways and means to deal with the SC order on Cauvery as also to crystalize the state’s stand at the meetings of the Cauvery Water Management Board in Delhi.