HYDERABAD: Local rain that continued on Saturday across TS Rayalaseema and parts of adjoining districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra brought more water into all major reservoirs. The inflows may continue for two more days. The Singur dam on the Manjira in Medak got about 40,000 cusecs in the evening, improving the storage to 14 tmc ft against full capacity of 30 tmc ft.
Officials decided to store all the water till the government takes a decision on opening the gates for irrigation. There were no inflows either to the Manjira barrage in Medak district or Nizamsagar dam in Nizamabad district. Downstream of Nizamsagar and up to the confluence of the Manjira with the Godavari at Kandakurthy, there was a heavy flow of water that reached the Sriramsagar project.
Gates on the 2.8-tmc ft Vishnupuri barrage in Nanded district of Mahar-ashtra were opened on Friday night, releasing 1.5 lakh cusec of water into the Godavari. This water will take 36 hours to reach Sriramsagar project. Sriramsagar on Saturday got 64,000 cusecs of water, which fell to 45,000 cusec in the evening. The project has 42.5 tmc ft of water against full capacity of 90 tmc ft; water stands at 1,076 ft against the full level of 1091 ft.
In anticipation of more inflows, officials started releasing water to the Kakatiya canal and to the flood flow canal to build up storage at the Lower Manair dam. The 20-tmc ft Yellampally dam across Godavari near Manchiryal town is full; on Saturday 7,000 cusec of surplus was let into the river, which will be drained into the sea after Dowleswaram. Due to rain in the local catchment areas of the Krishna river and its tributaries Bheema and Tungabhadra in Mahbubnagar, Kurnool, Raichur and Bellary districts, there was a significant inflow at Srisailam, fluctuating between 1 lakh cusec in the morning and 70,000 cusecs in the evening.
Rain in the Tanduru-Parigi area in Ranga Reddy district and Narayanpet and Kodangal areas in Mahbubnagar district contributed to flood in local rivulets. Water from the heavy rain in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts filled up the Musi project located near Kethepally in Nalgonda. The surplus was released into the river that joins the Krishna between Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala at Vadepalli.
