Water level in Godavari remains steady at 11.70ft with discharge of 9.73 lakh cusecs
VIJAYAWADA: The water level in Godavari River remained steady at 11.70ft with a discharge of 9.73 lakh cusecs of water downstream into the sea from Sir Arthur Cotton barrage at 10 pm.
The discharge was short of 10 lakh cusecs, a level where the first flood warning has to be issued. This gave relief to the authorities in the erstwhile Godavari districts.
With the water level at Bhadrachalam, which recorded at 43.30 ft at 1 pm, started receding. By 7 pm, it came down to 40.7 ft. Water authorities are confident that there may not be a further rise in the river’s water level at the barrage unless there was heavy rainfall again in catchment areas upstream of the Godavari.
Meanwhile, the state disaster management authority maintained that in the event of any rise in the water level in the Godavari River, they put the officials on alert in erstwhile twin districts of Godavari, where 42 mandals were vulnerable to the impact of floods.
It deployed two teams of SDRF personnel, 40 members in each team, at Velerupadu and Kukunoor in the Eluru district. An NDRF team with 21 personnel took up a position at Chintur in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, equipped with flood relief material, lifeboats, lifebuoys, life jackets, ropes etc.
Referring to the forecast from the central water commission that the Godavari might see floods again from Sunday, SDMA authorities advised the people to be cautious, especially in low-lying areas along the river’s course.
The authorities in both the Godavari districts inspected the flood-hit areas and issued directions to the local officials to swiftly evacuate the people to safety and accommodate them in relief camps if such a need arose. They also issued instructions to restore the damaged roads and also the road connectivity to several villages.
The works at the Polavaram project were halted due to seepage of water from cofferdams. Though the authorities planned to continue the works by taking up vibro compaction to strengthen the filled-up soil in the diaphragm wall -- by setting up dewatering equipment -- they are not taking the risk of continuing the works now. They fear it might, otherwise, affect the quality of the work.
