The discharge of over 5 lakh cusecs of water from the Nagarjunasagar Dam led to the marooning of 11 villages in Bellamkonda mandal of Guntur district and inundation of five colonies in Vijayawada necessitating evacuation of 1,650 persons. No casualties were reported from both Guntur and Krishna districts.
The outflow from Nagarjunasagar Dam reduced to 4 lakh cusecs by Friday evening, but at the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada, the authorities sounded the first warning after the inflows increased to 4.11 lakh cusecs and discharge crossed 4.11 lakh cusecs at 8 p.m.
Municipal Corporation authorities evacuated people from low-lying areas in Krishna Lanka, Ranigarithota, Balajinagar, Police Colony, Geethanagar, Ramalingeswara Nagar and Bhavanipuram (Lanchirevu) till 6 p.m.
Inflow into Sagar Reservoir touched 6 lakh cusecs on Thursday night, but water level was regulated at 584.8 feet curtailing the water releases to 5 lakh cusecs and below. The discharge from the dam, which reached 4.96 lakh cusecs at 6 a.m. on Friday gradually reduced to 4.23 lakh cusecs by evening. The water level at the Pulichintala Project site was 41.8 metres from river bed inundating the structure completely.
Cotton fields submerged
In Guntur district, cotton fields spread over 3,000 acres are lying submerged under a sheet of water for the past three days. A battalion of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) led by Raj Kumar along with Army personnel swung into service and were evacuating families in inflatable boats from Gollapeta, and Kollur.
Two relief centres were opened in government schools at Venkatayapalem and Morjampadu villages, where over 500 families were being provided shelter and food.
Meanwhile, in Krishna district, six families were evacuated from Pappayi Lanka, in Ghantasala Mandal downstream the barrage after water entered their houses. People living in Yedlalanka, in Avanigadda were also evacuated.
The discharge from the Prakasam Barrage hovered around 3 lakh cusecs in the morning as the irrigation authorities maintained water level at 12.5 feet. But, at noon when the inflows increased, discharge too increased to 3.56 lakh cusecs and the water level was set to 12.3 feet at the barrage.
Water entered houses in Ibrahimpatnam Ferry Pushkarnagar at 10 p.m. on Wednesday with authorities evacuating about 50 families from their homes upstream the barrage.
Memories of massive flood in 2009 when the discharges peaked to 9.70 lakh cusecs have come back to haunt families living in the Pulichintala project area. Temporary tents have been put up at Gaddalaguda thanda to provide shelter to those living in tribal hamlets. Many evacuees, however, complained of insufficient ration and poor quality of food.
The villages, which might face the brunt of the flood if flood increased, were Bodhanam, Kethavaram, Chityala, Chityala thanda, Kollur, Pulichintala and Gollapeta. Road link to these villages continued to be snapped for the second consecutive day.
Surrounded
Nalgonda Correspondent adds: Residents of Adluru, Nemalipuri, Vellaturu, Chintriyala and Kishtapuram in Mellacheruvu mandal of Huzurnagar Assembly constituency are surrounded by water following the flood discharge from the Nagarjunasagar Reservoir on Friday.
The level in the reservoir in the evening was 584.9 ft (FRL 590), with the inflow at 5.2 lakh cusecs and outflow 4.47 lakh cusecs.
Twenty-two of the 26 gates were opened up to 11 ft while the rest to 10 ft, Chief Engineer, of Nagarjunasagar Project, Saleem told The Hindu . He said the water level in the reservoir was stable. Major change in the flow was unlikely.
Meanwhile, only Adluru is facing a threat as an approach road to the village has been blocked by water the level of which is at seven foot. This level was two ft on September 6, one ft on September 7 and eight ft the next day. As a result about 300-350 residents of Adluru have been accommodated at ZP High School, Tammaram, 1.5 km from the village. Some of them moved to the outskirts of the village in country boats.
The villagers are being provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, protected water and medicare both in the village and at the rehabilitation centre. Revenue Divisional Officer K. Manohar and MRO Y. Pullaiah are supervising the rehabilitation arrangements. Huzurnagar MLA N. Uttam Kumar Reddy visited Adluru and other villages to console the residents and assess their needs. Adluru has 1,600 houses.
Meanwhile, residents of the four villages are refusing to shift as they are under the impression that the water level would come down.
Some residents recalled their experience when the villages faced floods two years back, when water entered the dwellings, damaging the household items, including foodgrains. They allege that suitable compensation was not paid to them by the administration.
Residents of the five villages are already affected by the Pulichintala Project under construction. They have to leave as the administration has already provided them permanent rehabilitation facilities at different spots. Villagers of Adluru are to be accommodated in Kodad mandal.
Officials on tenterhooks
Special Correspondent from Hyderabad adds: The inflows reaching the stretch of the Krishna river in the State have crossed a massive 6 lakh cusecs, inundating low-lying areas in several villages of Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Guntur and Krishna districts and cropped areas.
Irrigation engineers manning the four projects existing across the river in the State were on tenterhooks from Thursday night when the incoming flood peaked which continued throughout Friday.
Almost all the crest-gates of Jurala, Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Prakasam Barrage were kept open to allow the surplus water into the Bay of Bengal. An estimated quantity of100 tmcft of water, which is more than the full reservoir storage of Sriramsagar, had gone into the ea.
B. Lakshman Rao, chief engineer, Srisailam, said the inflows reaching the dam, however, dwindled to 5.2 lakh cusecs by Friday evening, an indication that it was falling trend.
By Saturday evening, the inflows were expected to fall further up to Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada.
The flood waters of the Krishna river entered several villages in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts also affecting normal life, besides inundating stretches of crops.
The authorities alerted people at a number of villages in Damaracherla, Neredcherla, Mattampalli and Peddavoora mandals, shifted them to safer places wherever required.
In Mahabubnagar district, low-lying areas at Mungamanudinne, Penchikalapadu, Rangapurm, Boorjipadu, Manvampadu, Pallapadu and Chandur came under a sheet of water due to the backwaters effect of the reservoirs of Srisailam and Jurala dams.
