High alert sounded at Prakasam barrage, first flood warning issued at 7pm after discharge touched 3.97 lakh cusecs.
Vijayawada: All the major reservoirs set on major rivers like Krishna, Godavari and Penna are filled to the brim following heavy rainfall in their respective catchment areas on Wednesday.
Against the gross capacity to store water in all major and medium reservoirs being at FRL of nearly 1,000 tmc-ft, the current storage was at 782.25 tmc-ft (78.15 per cent against last year’s storage of 672.93 tmc-ft (67.23 per cent) on August 13.
The Srisailam reservoir’s current storage was at 202.05 tmc-ft (93.62 per cent) against gross capacity at FRL of 215.81 tmc-ft with inflow at 1.89 lakh cusecs and outflow at 2.47 lakh cusecs. The Nagarjuna Sagar project’s current storage of water was at 308.76 tmc-ft (98.95 per cent) against the gross capacity at FRL of 312.05 tmc-ft, with a water inflow of 2.30 lakh cusecs and outflow of 2.71 lakh cusecs.
The Pulichintala project also has its source of water from local catchment areas in parts of Telangana, that are witnessing heavy rainfall in the last few days. The project gets its water from upstream Nagarjuna Sagar project also. This is resulting in the project having a current storage at 39.6 tmc-ft (86.52 per cent) against its gross capacity at FRL of 45.77 tmc-ft -- with both inflow and outflow of water to be nearly 3.15 lakh cusecs.
The Prakasam Barrage was already filled to the brim with 3.07 tmc-ft of water (100 per cent) with both inflow and outflow recorded at 3.63 lakh cusecs.
A huge inflow of water into the barrage from upstream Pulichintala project and also from local streams and rivulets that were overflowing and getting emptied into the river, the water level kept rising. It was expected that the water discharge would reach five lakh cusecs of water in the next two days.
Meanwhile, the water resources authorities have issued a high alert to those residing in both upstream and downstream areas of the barrage. This was in view of the huge impounding of water at the barrage. All the low-lying areas downstream of the river have been put on high alert.
Teams of officials from water resources, revenue, police etc are patrolling the flood banks on either side and not allowing the people to enter the river bed for a swim or to take livestock for a watch. Fishermen have been asked not to venture into the waters until the flood situation in the river returns to normal.
Meanwhile, the water authorities issued the first flood warning at Prakasam Barrage at 7pm after the water discharge touched 3.97 lakh cusecs.
Krishna river conservator Ravi Kiran said, “We are expecting one more lakh cusecs of water from local catchment areas to reach the barrage by Thursday in addition to the inflow of water from upstream projects. We all are on high alert and the people living in low-lying areas along the course of the river and fishermen have been put on alert.”
The heavy rainfall was also having its impact on the Godavari river, with water level at the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage at Dowleswaram reaching the current full storage of 2.93 tmc-ft (100 per cent) with both inflow and outflow of water recorded at 1.31 lakh cusecs.
The Gotta barrage has a current storage of 0.61 tmc-ft (92.16 per cent) against an FRL of 0.66 tmc-ft. The Somasila reservoir recorded a current storage level of 41.95 tmc-ft (53.78 per cent) against an FRL of 78 tmc-ft. The Gandikota reservoir has a current storage of 19.92 tmc-ft (74.19 per cent) against an FRL of 26.85 tmc-ft.
The Nellore tank reported a current storage of 0.32 tmcfft (38.28 per cent against an FRL of 0.84 tmc-ft. The state water authority said all major and medium reservoirs were getting huge inflow of water from their respective local catchment areas in view of the heavy rainfall. They took requisite steps to ensure there are no breaches to floodbanks and tanks.
