The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Record flood in Krishna

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Saturday, Oct 03, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Record flood in Krishna

M.L.Melly Maitreyi

HYDERABAD: The flood in the Krishna is set to break all the previous records on Saturday morning when, Central Water Commission (CWC) officials say, the Srisailam Dam will receive inflows of 20-22 lakh cusecs.

According to recorded data, Srisailam received the highest inflow of 9.85 lakh cusecs on October 15, 1998. The officials pointed out that Krishna can be a threat during high floods. As on Friday afternoon, the dam was receiving inflow of about 14 lakh cusecs of water.

Unlike the rivers of Indo-Gangetic plain, the Krishna is subject to highly variable and irregular season flow, according to published data on various rivers.

Tungabhadra, main tributary of Krishna, also recorded the highest water level of 316.5 meters in the early hours of Friday at Mantralayam.

The previous high was in 1992 when the water level touched 315.8 meters at this temple town, said CWC officials.

“Downstream of the Tungabhadra dam, the river has been in such a spate that we are no longer able to record the level as the water is flowing over the gauges,” said CWC (Hyderabad) Assistant Director Laxmi Narayana. “Warning signals are given when the water level touches 310 m and this level was recorded two days ago”, he added.

Irrigation Department officials said that the State had never before experienced such high floods and inflows but allayed fears about the safety of Srisailam dam and Nagarjunasagar project. As the inflows continue into Srisailam dam, 13 to 14 lakh cusecs would be released downstream of Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar and from there to Prakasam Barrage and finally to sea, they explained.

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