Rain fury continues to batter Andhra Pradesh

VIJAYAWADA/KAKINADA/ANANTAPUR: The water resources authorities have issued first flood warning when water level crossed 3.66 metres in River Krishna at Prakasam Barrage with a discharge of 3.97 lakh cusecs downwards at 5.30 am on Saturday.

Following incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of the River Krishna in the last few days, huge quantum of water is being discharged from the upstream projects resulting in water level raising at Prakasam Barrage. The authorities lifted all the gates and started discharging water downstream into the sea.

However by 11 am, water level in the river at the Barrage remained steady with a discharge of 4.5 lakh cusecs and the same level is being continued when the last reports came in by evening.

Krishna river conservator P.V.R. Krishna Rao said, “We all are on alert along the course of Krishna river downstream following huge inflow of water from the upstream projects and we are discharging 4.5 lakh cusecs by lifting all gates at the Prakasam Barrage and we expect it to continue at the same pace for some time with no further heavy inflows expected.”

Meanwhile, the revenue authorities in both the Krishna and NTR districts are on alert along the river course on either side at vulnerable places to avoid any untoward incidents and are ready to evacuate the people to safety in case of any exigency.

Control rooms are set up at both the collectorates to keep round-the-clock vigil on flood situation in the Krishna river and alert the people. With the construction of retaining wall, the floodwater in the river is not entering the low-lying areas as of now and in case the discharge at Prakasam Barrage goes up beyond five lakh cusecs, there may be a need to arrange evacuation of people to safety from low-lying areas.

In many towns and villages of erstwhile East and West Godavari districts, rivulets and lakes are overflowing.

Large quantities of water have reached Musurumilli, Bhupathipalem, Subbareddy Sagar, Suddagadda, Yeleru and other reservoirs. Officials are releasing excess waters into the canals.

Bus complexes at Kakinada and Ravulapalem and Kakinada Municipal Corporation office are under knee deep water. Access roads to Port Railway Station are flooded.

A pond at Jaggampeta has breached and waters have entered nearby colonies and houses. Low-lying areas in Kakinada, Rajamahendravaram, Amalapuram and Razole have been inundated. Sambamurthy Nagar, Sanjaynagar, Dantuvari Street, Gandhinagar, Ramaraopet, Jagannaickpur, Annamma Ghati centre and other areas in Kakinada are under water.

Kakinada Poura Samkeshema Sangham convener Dusarlapudi Ramana Raju has blamed Municipal Corporation officials for inundation of the city.
Roads to Tantikonda, which is famous for Lord Sri Venkateswara Temple, Gokavaram and Korukonda are inundated. Devotees faced great difficulties in reaching the Venkateswara temple on Saturday, which is considered auspicious.

Pennar and Chitravati Rivers are flowing at dangerous levels in Rayalaseema from the initial point at Hindupur to Kadapa following incessant rains in upstream areas of Karnataka as well as in Rayalaseema region.

High alert continued at Mylavaram following discharge of around 60,000 cusecs of water downstream. Revenue, irrigation and police teams are monitoring the situation at Gandikota because of the rising water levels. Gandikota reservoir is filled to 92 percent of its capacity, with inflows being 47,590 cusecs and outflows 49,000 cusecs, which are going to Mylavaram. Many bridges and roads have been badly damaged because of floods in Pennar River.

Access to many villages has been cut off. The river is flowing over culverts in Peddamanthur and Roddam areas of Satya Sai district.

Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir on Anantapur-Kadapa borders is full. PABR (Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir) is discharging heavy outflows to projects downwards.

Gangamma Temple in Uravakonda mandal has got submerged in Pennar.
Jayamangali and Kushavati, sub-rivers of Pennar, are flowing heavily in Hindupur area. Connecting irrigation tanks and small tanks are overflowing in Hindupur municipality, thereby inundating colonies. Road services between Pulivendula and Mudigubba have been disrupted due to water overflowing from Maddileru channel in Kadiri area.

Bukkapattanam, the biggest tank in Rayalaseema, is overflowing for the third consecutive time in this year. Road access is unavailable between Puttaparthi and Bukkapatnam areas. Access is cut off to 30 villages in Satya Sai district.

Meanwhile, Srisailam is receiving heavy inflows from upstream parts of Kurnool district. Inflows have been 4.02 lakh cusecs and outflows 4.43 lakh cusecs towards Nagarjunasagar dam, where the dam level is being maintained at 213.92 TMC feet.