KURNOOL/RAJAHMUNDRY/ELURU : Finally, the Srisailam project has received the first inflows of the season with more than 1.83 lakh cusecs of water flowing into the reservoir. While this brought good news to the farmers under various projects on River Krishna, the villages flooded by River Godavari waters still remain marooned.
Farmers in Rayalaseema expressed happiness as Krishna water finally reached the Srisailam reservoir on Thursday. Several projects like Potireddypadu Head Regulator, Telugu Ganga, Srisailam Right Bank Canal (SRBC), Handri Neeva Sujala Srvanthi (HNSS) are dependent on availability of water in Srisailam Dam.
Currently, the reservoir has 42.5403 TMC ft of water as against the total capacity of 215.8070 TMC ft. Meanwhile, Jala Harathi was given at Sangameswara temple as it received the flood inflows for the first time this season. The floodwater entered the district at Sathankota village in Nandikotkur mandal and reached the Srisailam reservoir through River Krishna via Sangameswara temple in Kothapalli mandal.
Water level at the reservoir presently stood at 822.30 feetwhile its total height is 885 feet.
The Telangana government officials were drawing 2,400 cusecs from Srisailam Dam through the Mahatma Gandhi Kalvakurti Lift Irrigation (MGKLI) scheme as their share of water utility.The 19 villages, that were marooned in Polavaram mandal due to heavy inflows to River Godavari, still remained under water. The efforts of officials to reach the marooned villages did not fructify as the roads connecting the villages were cut off. Water was overflowing over the Paidipaka Singannapalle road and also the Tallavaram road, making it tough for the officials to reach the villages and take up relief and rehabilitation works.
Officials said that the cofferdam was obstructing the flow of water downstream of the project and the spillway channels could not take the entire water into them for letting it off to the other side of the project, leading to inundation of villages. Officials said the water flow into the project was steady as of now but apprehended that the flood will increase in the next two days. “If the flood flow increases, the road connectivity to the marooned villages remained inaccessible and relief works can not be taken,’’ officials said.
Deputy CMs Pilli Subash Chandra Bose and Alla Nani, along with district officials, reviewed the flood situation in the submerged villages on Thursday. They said officials of the police, revenue, medical and power utilities stay put in the villages to take up relief and rehabilitation measures. They said power supply to Singanapalle, Kondrukota and Tellavaram villages were cut off. Medical staff were asked to set up special camps in the flood-affected areas and special care should be taken to provide medicare to pregnant woman.
In East Godavari district, flood water is accumulating in Godavari river due to incessant ant rain in the catchment areas in the district. As many as 32 villages in Devipatnam mandal are badly affected and around 1,200 have been evacuated and shifted to relief camps. The Irrigation officials confirmed that they had released 7.80 lakh cusecs of water into sea from Dowleswaram barrage where the level stood at 9.8 feet on Thursday.
Due to the construction of coffer dam at Polavaram project, many villages in Devipatnam mandal, including Posammagandi, were submerged in floodwater. As the Godavari water is released into the low-lying area and the sea, some more island villages may be surrounded by floodwater. The people were alerted and the officials concerned were asked to be ready to handle any situation.
Agriculture fields in Burugugondu, Dandangi, Gubbalampalem, Ganugulagondu and Yenugulagudem are reeling under floodwater. Water surrounded the Government Junior College in Toyyeru. As Posammagundi, Devipatnam, SC Colony, Pudipalli and Matyakarapeta were submerged in rainwater, 1,200 have been shifted to the rehabilitation centre set up at old Tahsildar’s office in Devipatnam. The authorities arranged motor boats to cross the Godavari. A punt was arranged at Pasuvullanka and Bhairavapalem of I Polavaram mandal. Motor boats were arranged at Gantipedapudi and other areas in P Gannavaram mandal.