A flash flood alert has been issued at Prakasam Barrage and areas downstream K.L. Rao Sagar Pulichintala Project as one of the 24 radial gates of the latter failed to work due to technical issues in the early hours of Thursday.
Following the continuous flood in the Krishna during the past several days, the 16th hydraulic-operated radial gate of the project washed away while officials were trying to lift it at around 3 a.m. on Thursday. This caused free flow of the floodwater downstream, forcing authorities to lift other gates to reduce pressure on the dam and arrange a stop log on the failed gate. To install a stop log the water level in the reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 45.77 tmcft, had to be brought down and released to Prakasam Barrage whose storage capacity is 3.07 tmcft.
The outflow at Pulichintala has been increasing rapidly since the incident and the same would be reflected at Prakasam Barrage after about 8 to 12 hours. The inflow to Prakasam Barrage will likely rise to four to five lakh cusecs by afternoon. As of 9 a.m. the outflow at Pulichintala was 2.52 lakh cusecs and inflow was 1.10 lakh cusecs.
Outflow at Prakasam Barrage increased from 33,750 cusecs at 7 a.m. to 43,439 cusecs by 9 a.m. As of 9 a.m. inflow to the Barrage was 41,717 cusecs.
Water Resources Minister Anil Kumar Yadav, Government Whip and MLA S. Udaya Bhanu and others visited the project. Krishna district Collector J. Nivas also rushed to the project.
A high alert was sounded in the mandals alongside Krishna river between Jaggaiapeta and Avanigadda in view of the flash flood. All the ghats along the Krishna, including Vedadri and Muktyala pushkar ghats, were closed. People were asked not to venture into the river and residents of low-lying areas were asked to move to safer places.
