VIJAYAWADA: The Krishna River is in full spate again as heavy rains in the catchment areas have led to rising inflows, prompting Water Resources authorities to issue a first flood warning at the Prakasam Barrage.
As of Thursday evening, a discharge of 4.43 lakh cusecs of water was being released downstream, with projections suggesting a likely escalation to the second flood warning level.
All major reservoirs are currently managing heavy inflows. The Srisailam project is receiving 2.62 lakh cusecs and releasing 3.21 lakh cusecs. The Nagarjuna Sagar dam is releasing 2.50 lakh cusecs, while Pulichintala is releasing 2.43 lakh cusecs after receiving 2.75 lakh cusecs. These combined inflows, along with additional contributions from streams such as Munneru and Paleru, are contributing to the high flood levels at the barrage.
Authorities have issued alerts to residents in nearly 90 villages in Krishna and NTR districts.
In NTR district, the Nallavagu stream overflowed, disrupting traffic between Nandigama and Chandarlapadu. The district received a record 1,608 mm of rainfall from Wednesday to Thursday, inundating commercial crops in Nandigama and Jaggayyapeta.
Krishna district recorded 954.4 mm of rainfall on Wednesday and 629.3 mm on Tuesday. Furthermore, the India Meteorological Department on Thursday has forecast moderate to heavy rain for several coastal and north Andhra districts on Friday.