Krishna Rising, Flood Alert Continues at Prakasam Barrage

Vijayawada: Water level in Krishna River is rising steadily. Nearly three lakh cusecs of water is expected to be discharged from Prakasam barrage by Thursday night or Friday morning.

Authorities are continuing to issue flood alerts to people living in both upstream and downstream areas of the barrage.

At around 6:00 p.m., water resources authorities had been discharging 1.77 lakh cusecs of water from Prakasam barrage, as huge inflows are being received from upstream projects like Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala.

The quantum of water to be discharged at the barrage will continue to go up. Authorities said when the discharge reaches 3.97 lakh cusecs, they will issue the first flood warning at the barrage. This requires people living in low-lying areas to be on alert.

Krishna River conservator P.V.R. Krishna Rao said, “We are expecting the quantum of discharge from Prakasam barrage to be around three lakh by tonight or tomorrow. Inflows will continue as upstream projects are releasing water.”

Authorities at Pulichintala project, which is considered an “online reservoir” with no water storage facility, released over three lakh cusecs of water at 5:00 p.m. It takes eight to 10 hours for this water to reach Prakasam barrage. Water at Pulichintala went on to touch the 53.34 metre level.

From Nagarjunasagar, water resources authorities are discharging nearly 3.07 lakh cusecs of water by lifting the gates of the dam. Around 7:00 p.m. the dam had been getting inflows of 3.5 lakh cusecs.

With rainfall continuing in the upper catchment areas of Krishna river, downstream projects are expected to get huge inflows of water in the next few days. Officials will continue to issue flood alerts to avoid any untoward incidents.