Hyderabad: Over one lakh visitors flocked to the Nagarjunasagar dam to see the release of large volumes of water on Thursday, a holiday for Independence Day, resulting in a gridlock that stretched about 6 km.
Reports said traffic was jammed from New Bridge to Hill Colony Road near Nagarjunasagar dam. All 26 crest gates of the dam have been opened to release the large inflow of water.
Anticipating the rush, more than 100 police personnel were deployed but that was not enough. Parking was at the old police station, 4 km from the dam and the visitors were asked to walk the distanceAt Nagarjunasagar, the Shivalayam downstream of the dam was submerged.
The massive inflows are expected to last at least till the weekend. Srisailam is receiving 8,62,789 cusecs. Upstream, Jurala received 6,85,265 cusecs from the Krishna and 47,448 cusecs from the Sunkesula project through the Tungabhadra river.
The Srisailam reservoir water level is being maintained at 881,70 ft against the full level of 885 feet. The dam now holds 197.461 timc ft while its full capacity is 215 tmc ft.
The dam was releasing 7,55,060 cusecs from 10 gates which were lifted to a height of 37 feet.
In AP, a flood alert has been sounded downstream of the Prakasam barrage amid fears that 8 lakh cusecs of water would be released in the last stretch of the river before it meets the sea.
