Vijayawada: Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said on Friday that 1.33 lakh cusecs of water is being released from Prakasam Barrage by lifting all the 70 gates.
The inflow at Prakasam Barrage stands at 1.40 lakh cusecs and 6,869 cusecs of water is being released to canals.
Speaking to the media at his camp office here, the minister said officials we-re alerting the villagers of Krishna downstream following release of flood waters. He said the state received 18.7 per cent excess rainfall in September, registering 130 mm of rainfall against an average 109 mm rainfall.
In Guntur district alone, 26.9 per cent excess rainfall was registered. Dachepalli tops with 171 mm rainfall and Pulipadu mandal registered 155 mm rainfall for the past 24 hours.
The minister said Pulichintala has been receiving heavy inflows of 1.84 lakh cusecs. He said 30 tmc of water was stored at Pulichintala project and the excess inflows are being released downstream.
Somasila reservoir received 23.7 tmc of water and the Gundlakamma project 2.8 tmc. The minister stressed the need for constructing another pro-ject with 10 tmc storage capacity between Pulichintala and Prakasam Barrage to prevent wastage of flood water.
The minister inspected the Prakasam Barrage and directed the officials to alert the villagers of downstream.
He said with the unprecedented rain and release of water, farmers are busy with cultivation in Krishna delta covering 10 lakh acres.
