KURNOOL: The Tungabhadra Dam and Almatti Dam continue to receive heavy inflows as rains continue to lash the upper catchment areas in Karnataka and Maharashtra. A high alert has been sounded in low-lying areas of Kurnool district due to the increased discharge from the Tungabhadra Dam in Karnataka and Jurala project in Telangana.
Floodwater is reaching the Srisailam reservoir from both Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers. It is receiving 2,85,056 cusecs from the rivers, and the inflows are increasing by the minute, officials said. Tungabhadra dam has 98.86 TMCft of water, against its capacity of 100.86 TMC.
Till Monday afternoon, it received 31,783 cusecs from the Tunga and Bhadra rivers in Karnataka. Officials released 38,284 cusecs into the Tungabhadra river by lifting 12 of its 33 gates, and said more water will be released if the inflows increase. “Nearly 1 lakh cusecs may be released by tonight (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday),” an official said.
The water storage in Almatti dam reached 114.23 TMCft against its capacity of 129.72 TMCft. The dam is receiving inflows of 2,11,888 cusecs, and officials released 2,00,255 cusecs from the dam in Maharashtra into the Krishna river. With these heavy inflows, both Tungabhadra and Almatti dams are almost full.
The downstream Srisailam reservoir in Kurnool district is receiving copious inflows from the TB dam and Jurala Project. The Jurala project has received 1,21,452 cusecs of water, and officials released 2,82,917 cusecs to the Srisailam reservoir by lifting all 62 spillway gates.
Meanwhile, with heavy inflows in the Krishna river and the flow from Tungabhadra merging with it, the inflows to the Srisailam project is expected to touch over 5 lakh cusecs in the next couple of days, an irrigation officer said.
Heavy inflows in Krishna continue at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada. At 6 pm, inflows at the barrage stood at 1,29,114 causes and outflows at 1,33,683 cusecs. At Srisailam reservoir, inflows stood at more than 2 lakh cusecs at 6 pm.
Thunderstorms likely in Rayalaseema today
Light to moderate rainfall occurred at several places in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema under the influence of active South West Monsoon on Monday. In the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Monday, the highest rainfall of 4 cm was recorded in Velairpad in West Godavari district.
According to the IMD, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning are likely to occur at isolated places in Rayalaseema on Tuesday. A fresh low pressure area is likely to form over the north Bay of Bengal around August 19. It is very likely to become more marked during the subsequent 24 hours and move westwards.
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