The inflows into Jurala project in Jogulamba-Gadwal district which were recorded around 32,000 cusecs on Wednesday night are expected to cross 70,000 cusecs by Thursday morning and to increase further beyond one-lakh cusecs in the next couple of days with the help of heavy to very heavy rains in the catchment areas of Krishna and all its major tributaries in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
With the Central Water Commission (CWC) forecasting further increase of flood into Almatti, Ujjani, Tungabhadra and other reservoirs in the Krishna basin in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the irrigation authorities of Telangana are planning to fill most of the minor irrigation tanks linked to the canal and lift systems in the basin. The flood is also providing an opportunity to go for more hydel generation by TS-Genco to meet the high demand in the agricultural season.
Based on the information provided to them by the CWC, the flood monitoring officials have stated that there was heavy to very heavy rain in the ghat (hilly) areas of Maharashtra in Nasik, Pune, Satara and Kolhapur district, the catchment areas of Godavari, Bhima and Krishna rivers. “In Mahabaleshwar of Satara district, the source region of Krishna and other rivers, 8.4 cm rain was recorded from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Wednesday in addition to 13 cm rain recorded in the 24-hour period till 8.30 am on Wednesday”, officials told The Hindu .
A forecast bulletin issued by CWC said that since many of the small dams in the catchment areas of Krishna are releasing flood downstream, there probability of rise in level of the Krishna in Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts was high. Hippargi barrage, Almatti and Narayanpur dams in Karnataka were getting inflows of around 65,000 cusecs on Wednesday afternoon.
However, in order to maintain flood cushion in Almatti and Narayanpur dams the discharge of flood is likely to be increased. Accordingly, the authorities at Almatti have increased the flood discharge to about one-lakh cusecs from 2 pm on Wednesday.
The inflows into Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka which were around 28,000 cusecs on Wednesday evening are expected to go up to 35,000 cusecs by Thursday morning owing to rains in Shivamogga district, the catchmentn area of the Tungabhdra.
Besides, flood to Hidkal and Malaprabha dams in Karnataka are also likely to add to the flood in Krishna below Almatti. “Flood from all such sources will be contributing to the inflows into Jurala and it is is likely to get flood of around 70,000 cusecs by Thursday morning”, the officials said. Contribution of flood from Bhima and its upstream dams is expected to further increase the flood to Jurala.
The CWC has indicated that all the reservoirs in the Krishna basin in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are likely to get increased inflows over the next three to five days.
In Godavari basin, Sriramsagar is getting around 45,000 cusecs of flood steadily and its expected to continue further. The flood to main Godavari course from its tributaries Pranahitha, Indravathi and Sabari is also on the rise and nearly 2,000 tmc ft volume of water has already gone into the sea from Dowlaiswaram.
