Godavari in Spate, 2nd Flood Warning Issued at Bhadrachalam
Indicating that the river was rising by nearly one foot each hour
HYDERABAD: With the Godavari in spate following widespread rainfall in its upper catchment areas in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, as well as in Telangana, the irrigation department on Friday issued the second warning at Bhadrachalam with the river reaching the 48 feet mark with forecasts indicating a further rise in the river level at the temple town.
The speed at which the Godavari was rising at Bhadrachalam could be gauged from the fact that the first warning was issued only at 10.14 am, with the water level reaching 43 feet. The second flood warning followed just after five hours, at 3.48 pm, indicating that the river was rising by nearly one foot each hour.
By the time the second flood warning was issued, the Godavari near Bhadrachalam was carrying around 11.44 lakh cusecs, which according to the irrigation decision support system (IDSS) of the irrigation department, was expected to rise up to 17.68 lakh cusecs on Saturday.
Meanwhile, at the upstream Sripada Yellampalli reservoir, the main supplier to the city, the inflows dropped significantly from the expected around 1.5 lakh cusecs to 50,555 cusecs. However, the inflows over the past two days at the reservoir bumped its storage to 18.65 tmc ft, against its total capacity of 20.18 tmc ft.
The Yellampalli reservoir plays a critical role in ensuring drinking water supplies to much of the state, including Hyderabad, and to large swathes of rural Telangana through the Mission Bhagiratha scheme.
Inflows into Srisailam clocked around the expected 89,000 odd cusecs on Friday resulting in total stored water of 53.24 tmc ft against the reservoir’s ability of 215.81 tmc ft.