HYDERABAD: With heavy rains upstream of the catchment areas of the Himayatsagar reservoir, two floodgates have been lifted on Tuesday afternoon by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB). A few more floodgates would be opened later in the day as there are steady inflows into the reservoir.
Rains have been lashing the city and its surrounding areas for the last few days resulting in heavy inflows into the reservoir. With the lifting of the floodgates of Himayatsagar reservoir, more water discharge is likely downstream of the River Musi. An alert was issued to people residing downstream of the reservoir all along the river to avoid any untoward incidents.
As additional inflows are likely, water through flood gates is being released systematically to avoid sudden release of water downstream of River Musi.
HMWS&SB has alerted the district administration of Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts along with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and police to shift people living in houses along the course of River Musi. Water Board officials are closely monitoring the water levels in Himayatsagar in the light of rains in the catchment areas. More gates will be opened depending upon the inflows from the upstream areas.
Floodgates of Himayatsagar were opened last month in view of heavy rains that lashed the city. Himayatsagar has a total of 17 floodgates while Osmansagar has 15 floodgates.
Osmansagar popularly known as Gandipet is also receiving good inflows from the catchment areas and flood gates are likely to open soon.
The full tank level (FTL) of Himayatsagar is 1763.50 feet with the capacity of 2.968 TMC. In view of the inflows from the catchment areas, the reservoir level reached 1763.20 feet (2.837 TMC). The inflow was 1200 cusecs and outflows were 700 cusecs till 1.30 pm.
For Osmansagar, as against the full tank level of 1,790 feet (3.900 TMC), the present level is about 1788.20 feet (3.488 TMC). The inflow of water was 2600 cusecs and outflows were nil till 1.30 pm.