2.68 lakh cusecs water discharged
PNS | VIJAYAWADA
Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada has been receiving a steady inflow of 2.68 lakh cusecs of water from the upper catchment area, and the same amount of flood water is being released downstream of the barrage. The Water Resources Department authorities lifted all 70 crest gates of the Prakasam Barrage and discharged surplus water into the Bay of Bengal.
As the Munneru tributary received huge flood water from Khammam in the Telangana state on the consecutively third day. With that flood water overflowed between the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state’s main roads. Due to the Munneru tributary flood water overflowed on the Vijayawada – Hyderabad National Highway, which caused suspending the vehicle traffic for the consecutively second day at Ithavaram of Nandigama Mandal.
The storage capacity of the Munneru Project was very meagre, so, the officials concerned discharged the same amount of water which has been coming from the Telangana State, into the River Krishna. In addition to this, Kattaleru, Wyra, and Paleru tributaries also have huge floods.
As a result, the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada was leading to heavy flood water. So, Irrigation Circle officials are maintaining the barrage Full Reservoir Level (FRL) and the remaining surplus water discharged into the sea. As of now, the officials lifted 30 crest gates to a height of seven feet and the remaining 40 gates lifted to a height of six feet and released flood water downstream of the Prakasam Barrage.
As per the Water Resources Department officials, and authorities, by 6 pm on Friday, the barrage was being realised with an inflow of 2,59,112 cusecs. Authorities are expecting
that it will recede to one lakh cusecs by Saturday morning. Meanwhile, due to the overflow of the rivers Krishna and Munneru, NTR and Krishna district authorities have taken precautionary measures and alerted the public of the upper catchment area as well as the downstream area.
Meanwhile, NTR District Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata has supervised the flood situation at Keesara of Nandigama. He also participated in relief operations in person and observed the situation by using drone cameras. He along with police officials travelled on the crane and monitored the Munneru flood situation at Ithavaram.
Speaking on the occasion, the Commissioner said that due to the gushing flood in the Munneru, vehicular movements had been suspended on Thursday evening, and informed that it will be eased from Saturday morning in case the flood recedes. He said that the flood was flowing furiously through the NH-65 at Ithavaram Village.
He said that the NDRF and SDRF teams rescued 45 persons who were mired in the floods. He also said that they were continuously speaking with Khammam and Suryapet SPs over the flood situation and alerting the concerned authorities.
DCP Ajitha Vejendla, Nandigama DSP Janardhan Naidu and others also accompanied the commissioner and supervised the situation.
Meanwhile, Nandigama MLA Dr Monditoka Jagan Mohan Rao along with Nandigama RDO A Ravindra Rao visited the flood-hit areas. Also, he spoke with the victims who were stranded in the Munneru flood on Thursday and rescued by NDRF personnel. On the second day, Friday, traffic was stopped on the NHAI due to the overflow of the Munneru. Hundreds of vehicles queued on the NHAI.
Later, he spoke to NTR District Collector Dr S Dilli Rao and Kanthi Rana Tata about the flood water. Also, he sugged the officers take early steps to restore the vehicle traffic on the Vijayawada – Hyderabad highway.
