The steady inflow of over 8 lakh cusecs of water to the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) reservoirs on the Krishna river on Tuesday put the State government on alert.
The discharge to Pulichintala and Prakasam Barrage, the last reservoir on the Krishna, has increased manifold over the night and flood alert was sounded in Krishna and Guntur districts and precautionary measures initiated by the authorities.
All the projects, including Srisailam, NSP and Pulichintala, were close to Full Reservoir Level (FRL).
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The level in Srisailam was 880 feet against FRL of 885 and in NSP it was 575 feet against 590 feet. Prakasam Barrage reached FRL of 57.07 feet and full storage capacity of 3.07 tmcft.
The Pulichintala project as of 7 pm was receiving 5.81 lakh cusecs and 4.27 lakh cusecs was being discharged to Prakasam Barrage where the first warning level was issued and all the 70 gates were lifted releasing 1.61 lakh cusecs into the sea.
Officials are expecting an increase in inflow up to 5 lakh cusecs by early hours of Wednesday.
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The second flood warning would be sounded when the inflow reaches 5.66 lakh cusecs.
The Krishna and Guntur district administrations have already initiated evacuation of people residing on the river bank and river bed areas downstream Prakasam Barrage.
Officials identified as many as 134 villages prone to flooding in Krishna and Guntur districts when the discharge from Prakasam Barrage reaches three lakh cusecs.
The AP State Disaster Management Authority has positioned rescue teams and equipment in 11 mandals of Krishna and four mandals in Guntur, while NDRF teams will be stationed in Vijayawada and Guntur.
CM’s call
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the Krishna river has been receiving heavy inflows like never before and all the gates of the projects in State have been lifted.
Addressing a teleconference with the Collectors, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy asked them to ensure that all the reservoirs are filled to full capacity making use of the situation.
Inflows to the Godavari came down to 5.4 lakh cusecs at Dowleswaram easing the flood situation.