Incessant rains over the past few days in the upper catchments of Karnataka have caused major rivers in Andhra Pradesh to swell, causing a fresh round of flooding in the Krishna and Penna basins. With the two main reservoirs of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar filled to the brim, over 3.67 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second of water flow) of flood water is released into the Krishna river. From the project Dr. At L Rao Sagar Pulichintala downstream, 3.74 million cusecs of flood water was released further down into the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada.
While the current flow at Prakasam Barrage was 1.93 million cusecs, the River Conservator said the flow could increase to four million cusecs due to excess release from Dr. K L Rao Sagar. Officials of NTR, Krishna and Guntur districts have been kept on alert to take precautionary measures, especially downstream of the barrage, as the first warning signal is expected to be sent by Friday. State Disaster Management Authority Director General B R Ambedkar said in a release that people staying along the banks should remain cautious and not attempt to cross the streams at any point.
On the other side of the state, Penna river is in flood resulting in heavy discharge in Anantapuramu, Sri Satya Sai and YSR Kadapa districts. Ambedkar said two teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been sent to Anantapuram district to carry out rescue and relief operations where necessary. According to the water resources department, 25,000 cusecs of water was released from Chagallu reservoir in Anantapuram district and Mylavaram reservoir in YSR Kadapa. Somasila reservoir on Penna river in SPS Nellore district is also filling up fast with inflow of 11,893 cusecs of flood water.
For the first time in decades, the Vedavati river in the Krishna basin, which flows through Anantapuram and Kurnool districts, saw heavy inflows due to heavy downpour in neighboring Karnataka. The Bhairavanitippa Middle Project on the river recorded a flood flow of about 63,000 cusecs on Thursday, which was the highest in many decades, according to irrigation authorities. This project can hold only two thousand million cubic feet of water, but it is now 66.35 percent full due to floods, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the SDMA said heavy rains with thundershowers were likely over the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh till Saturday under the influence of a low pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal. Ambedkar asked fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next few days in view of adverse weather conditions.
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