Vijayawada: The flood alert continued for Prakasam Barrage as nearly three lakh cusecs of Krishna water is likely to be discharged downstream from the barrage into the sea before morning on Thursday.
At 6 pm, 1.37 lakh cusecs of water was discharged from the barrage and this could raise up to three lakh cusecs in a span of a few hours.
Water resources authorities have lifted 50 gates first and 20 gates later, by three feet, to discharge water. Officials said some 13,477 cusecs of water were released to the canals for cultivation purpose.
Krishna river conservator Krishna Rao sounded the flood alert at Prakasam Barrage and called for precautionary steps to avoid any harm along the course of the river both upstream and downstream of the Prakasam Barrage.
Rao said, “We are getting huge quantum of inflows from upstream projects into the Krishna river. We expect a discharge of nearly 3 lakh cusecs from the Barrage by tonight.”
The river courses downstream through the four districts of NTR, Krishna, Guntur and Bapatla, stretching a distance of 130km covering hundreds of villages on either side of the flood banks and empties the water into the sea.
If the quantum of discharge from the barrage rises further, there are fears of inundation of fields and habitations located in the low-lying areas, Krishna Rao said.
Revenue authorities have put their staff on alert and asked them to be ready to meet any eventuality and ensure safety to the people and their assets.
Meanwhile, the Prakasam Barrage had a surprise visitor in the form of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. He was heading for his residence at Undavalli.
Naidu stopped his convoy at the barrage and alighted from his vehicle. He watched the huge discharge of Krishna water from the barrage downstream, and curiously reached upto the railing.
The Chief Minister said, “Krishna river having huge inflow of water gives me immense joy.”
He enquired with the officials about the status of inflow of water into other projects in the state.
AP has been experiencing heavy rainfall in recent days. Several projects are getting good quantity of inflows, helping the government use the water to meet the needs of power generation, drinking water and cultivation of crops.
AP stores 647.51tmc-ft (65.84%) of water out of a gross capacity at FRL of 983.49 tmc-ft in its major, medium and other projects as on Wednesday, against a storage of 433.05 tmc-ft (44.03%) water last year. This showed an increased storage of nearly 20 per cent compared to the last year.
