Rivers Godavari and Krishna were flowing with full fury on Thursday, August 11, as copious inflows turned into a flood, posing a threat to at least eight districts in Andhra Pradesh. For the second month in a row, Godavari has crossed the second danger level as the discharge at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram rose further to 14.70 lakh cusecs (cubic foot of water flow per second) on Friday morning. On the other side, the major reservoirs on river Krishna have been filled to the brim with heavy inflows from the catchment.
In Telangana too, the water levels remained high at Bhadrachalam as heavy inflows were received in the Godavari from Pranahita and Indravathi rivers. The second flood warning (for 48 feet) remained in place. As of 7 am on Friday, the water level at Bhadrachalam was 52.5 feet, with the flow in the river touching 13,98,434 cusecs. Low-lying areas were inundated and road links were cut off in a few places.
The flood discharge at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada stood at 3.37 lakh cusecs on Friday morning. “We have alerted the authorities of the respective districts to remain on alert and take necessary precautionary measures as the flood flow is increasing in the rivers,” State Disaster Management Authority Managing Director BR Ambedkar said in a release. The first flood warning at the Prakasam barrage is likely to be issued on Friday, said the Executive Engineer and River Conservator, Krishna Central Division.
Three teams each of the National Disaster Response Force and the SDRF, with a total of 178 personnel, have been positioned in BR Ambedkar Konaseema, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Eluru districts for carrying out rescue and relief operations as several mandals are affected by the flood. “We are constantly monitoring the situation from the State Emergency Operations Centre here and taking necessary steps,” Ambedkar said.
The Inter-Ministerial Team of officials from the Union government visited B R Ambedkar Konaseema district to assess the damage caused by the Godavari flood last month, even as tens of lanka (island) villages got inundated in the fresh deluge. Special Chief Secretary (Revenue-Disaster Management) G Sai Prasad presented a report on the flood damages to the Central team and requested that liberal assistance be extended as the deluge last month left an unprecedented impact.
Meanwhile, the Srisailam reservoir on river Krishna has been filled to the brim, following which over four lakh cusecs of water is being discharged downstream. Consequently, the Nagarjuna Sagar dam downstream also filled up almost to the full reservoir level of 588 ft, holding 506 thousand million cubic feet of water by Thursday evening, according to the Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Information and Management System data.
Following this, 26 crest gates of the dam have been lifted and 4.23 lakh cusecs of water is being discharged from Nagarjuna Sagar. Dr KL Rao Pulichintala reservoir, further down Nagarjuna Sagar, is receiving all the flood. More than four lakh cusecs is, accordingly, being let out from Dr K L Rao Pulichintala to Prakasam Barrage downstream in Vijayawada.