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.

Simultaneously, the WRD has intensified flood warnings for settlements along the Kosasthalaiyar River as Poondi Reservoir (Sathyamoorthy Sagar) stepped up discharge from 2,000 to 4,500 cusecs starting Wednesday morning.

The Poondi reservoir's current storage stands at 2,536 mcft (33.05 feet) against its full capacity of 3,231 mcft (35 feet), with inflow touching 2,910 cusecs from catchment areas and feeder canals such as Kesavaram Dam and Kandaleru Canal.

Villages, including Nambakkam, Thamaraipakkam, Thirukandalam, Athur, Pandikkavanur, and Jagannathapuram, along with Manali New Town and Sadayankuppam in the Manali zone, have been placed on high alert.

The WRD, however, assured that the precautionary releases were made in advance to maintain adequate buffer capacity in the city's major reservoirs -- Chembarambakkam, Puzhal, and Poondi -- thereby ensuring that even heavy rainfall would not result in uncontrolled flooding.

'There is no need for the public to panic as all flood regulation measures are being strictly followed,' said the Chief Engineer, Chennai Region, in a statement.

Coordination between the WRD, district administrations, and disaster response teams has been stepped up to ensure public safety and continuous monitoring of river flows.

/IANS