Chennai,  The Pambar dam in Tamil Nadu was half drained out on Thursday after a shutter snapped open following an electrical glitch.

The reservoir has a full capacity of 19.69 ft with 245 mc ft of water but was left with around 100 mc ft due to the snapping of its fourth shutter.

The district administration has issued a flood alert along the banks of Thenpennai river. The dam's watershed spans over 2,501 acres in 12 villages in Uthangarai in Krishnagiri district, while 1,499 acres in neigbouring Dharmapuri village will also be affected.

Engineers at the dam noted that the fourth shutter was snapped open on Thursday morning in a horizontal angle, draining out half of the water in the reservoir.

A state Water Resources Department official told IANS that the opening of the fourth shutter was due to an electrical glitch caused due to tripping. Engineers, attending to the problem, said that the panel was found burnt which led to a tripping failure, leading to a breakdown in shutter control.

Department officials have to bring down the water level to 39 mc ft to commence the repair.

Engineers told IANS that the entire process to bring the shutters back to the earlier position would require 15 days.

The dam had reached the full capacity of 19.80 ft and during heavy rains, 5,250 cusecs of water were released from the Pambar reservoir last week. Aqua farmers have been affected most due to the water drained out as the reservoir was auctioned out to them, but the fish have been drained out into the river now.