VIJAYAWADA: Collector J Nivas has called on people residing on the river banks to be more cautious as heavy inflows into River Krishna are likely by Sunday evening. During a review meeting held with the revenue and irrigation department officials on Saturday, he said as Maharashtra and Karnataka are witnessing heavy rains, around 5.58 lakh cusecs of floodwater from Srisailam will be released downstream of the Prakasam Barrage.
At present, the water capacity in Nagarjuna Sagar is 256 TMC, the Collector said, adding that another 56 TMCs will take it to full capacity. The irrigation department officials will release the flood waters into Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on Sunday morning.
About five lakh cusecs of water from the above will be released into the Pulichintala project. The flood water from Jaggayyapeta to Prakasam Barrage will be released on Sunday evening. In this regard, the officials concerned have been directed to alert the public staying on the river banks between Jaggayyapeta and Nagayalanka. After releasing the flood waters from Prakasam Barrage, the officials concerned should shift the women, children, elderly, and live stock to safer locations. Steps should be taken by the officials concerned to prevent youth from entering the waters for swimming.
He recalled that previous year, flood waters entered the Berm Park. He urged people between Nagayalanka and Jaggayyapeta to be cautious during the floods. He directed the Tahsildars of 15 zones to monitor the flood situation every night. Besides, steps should be taken by them in providing ration for the needy people in island villages and carry out campaigns over floods, Nivas informed. Later, Nivas carried out an inspection at Bhupesh Gupta Nagar to examine the flood water level in the downstream of the Prakasam Barrage.