In Andhra’s Krishna district, a second flood warning level has been issued with the outflow in the Prakasam barrage on the Krishna River touching 7.71 lakh cusecs against the inflow of 7.57 lakh cusecs. But what’s alarming is that the present level in the barrage is 4.08 TMC, exceeding its full capacity of 3.07 TMC, according to data released by the AP State Disaster Management Authority at 6pm on Friday.
A situation report released by the SDMA states that a second level warning continues and may reach 8 lakh cusecs by Friday night. “District Authorities of Kurnool, Guntur, Krishna are on alert and taken all precautionary measures, situation is under control. All Concerned officials are alerted, NDRF, SDRF, FIRE SERVICE on alert,” reads the report.
A total of 112 fire teams, 84 in Krishna district and 28 in Guntur have been deployed along with 180 NDRF teams in the two districts. 120 NDRF teams were deployed in Krishna while 60 are in Guntur district.
A total of 63 villages in both Krishna and Guntur were estimated to have been affected and nearly 9000 people were displaced. 41 flood relief camps were set up in Krishna district accommodating 8100 persons and 8 camps in Guntur accommodating 1619 persons, stated SDMA.
SDMA claimed that one human loss has been reported in Guntur, while one person is missing in Krishna district.
District Collectors in Krishna and Guntur and Police Chiefs are monitoring the situation, while Andhra Water Resources Minister Anil Kumar Yadav is overseeing the flood situation. Speaking to the media, he said that keeping the situation in view, all measures are being taken to safeguard the civilians in low lying areas. Responding on the drone cameras row near opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu house he said that the government was using the drone cameras to assess the flood situation. He also took a dig at TDP saying that they're not letting the government to discharge its' duties.
Meanwhile, Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala projects in Andhra Pradesh have also witnessed heavy inflow of water. According to the State Disaster Management Authority, as of 6pm on Friday, Srisailam dam in Kurnool district has touched 91.6% of its total storage capacity, with water levels at 197 TMC against its actual capacity of 215 TMCs. The outflow of 8.06 lakh cusecs is more than the inflow of 8.19 lakh cusecs at Srisailam.
Nagrjunasagar dam is nearly full to the brim with 96% storage on Friday. According to SDMA, the present capacity of the Nagarjuna Sagar is 299.74 TMC against its total capacity of 312.05 TMC. Meanwhile, Pulichintala dam which is at 82.9% of its total storage capacity, had an inflow of 7.37 lakh cusecs against an outflow of 8 lakh cusecs of water.
The Krishna River, which flows across four states, is in spate after very heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and Karnataka over the past two weeks. It has resulted in the gates being opened in dams across Maharashtra, where the Krishna River originates, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, where river finally drains into the Bay of Bengal. This is dam levels are nearly full across the states.
In Karnataka, the Alamatti and Narayanapura dams on the Krishna River, and the Thungabhadra dam on Thungabhadra river, a tributary of the Krishna River, have already recorded huge inflows and outflow of water. However, SDMA observes a falling trend in Karnataka’s dams.
The Jurala project in Telangana has also recorded a steady inflow of 6.85 lakh cusescs against outflow of 6.77 lakh cusecs. As per SDMA, the Jurala project is 71.9% of its total storage capacity at 6pm on Friday.