Flood Alert Issued to Prakasam Barrage

Vijayawada: A flood alert has been issued to the Prakasam Barrage, advising the revenue authorities to ensure protection for inhabitants along the course of River Krishna in Krishna, Bapatla and parts of Guntur districts.

Krishna river conservator Krishna Rao said in a statement here on Monday that the authorities at Nagarjuna Sagar project lifted gates around noon with a flood discharge of one lakh cusecs, and this increased to three lakh cusecs by evening.

With this, the Pulichintala project was expected to reach its FRL soon. At present, it was having an outflow of 34,000 cusecs and this may be increased to three lakh cusecs, he said.

He said that in such a situation, the Prakasam Barrage would receive a huge quantum of water from the Pulichintala project, forcing them to release the surplus water into the sea.

The revenue authorities would help avoid any harm to settlements along the river’s course both upstream and downstream of Prakasam barrage, he said.

The conservator said, “We are anticipating inflow of one lakh cusecs into the Prakasam barrage by Tuesday night or in the early hours of Wednesday from the Pulichintala project. The quantum of water is expected to rise further. We issued a flood alert so that the people living along the river course downstream would be alert and avoid any trouble from the floodwaters.”