VIJAYAWADA/KURNOOL: With more inflows reaching Prakasam Barrage, the second flood warning was again issued at 6.30 am on Sunday, after it was withdrawn at 1.15 pm on Saturday. As more rains are expected in the next three-four days, officials said inflows to all major reservoirs in the Krishna basin are likely to remain steady, and advised caution in low-lying areas.
At 7 pm on Sunday, the barrage recorded an inflow of 6.12 lakh cusecs and outflow of 6.15 lakh cusecs. While most of the water reached the barrage from Pulichintala, tributaries of the Krishna in Telangana also contributed to the increased inflow. At 8 pm, Pulichintala project was getting an inflow of 4.21 lakh cusecs, and its outflow was 4.62 lakh cusecs. The trend of the inflow was on the decline.
Srisailam reservoir continued to receive high inflows, with projects in the upper catchment areas of the river in neighbouring states discharging floodwater. At 6 pm, the reservoir had an inflow and outflow of 5.12 lakh cusecs and 5.09 lakh cusecs respectively, and according to the Central Water Commission, the flood is expected to remain steady. The reservoir has 215.08 TMC of water at 884.91 feet, as against its full reservoir level (FRL) of 215.81 TMC at 885 feet.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Srisailam project received 1,450 TMC ft of water in a rainy season. On an average, more than 30 TMC ft of water has been reaching the dam from the Krishna and Tungabhadra every day, and this has been the trend for the past 45 days. As much as 1,250 TMC of water has already been released downstream from the project.
Nagarjuna Sagar received between 5 lakh and 5.3 lakh cusecs, and discharged most of it as it is near its FRL. Meanwhile, the inflow to Gotta barrage was 25,000 cusecs at 7 pm, and outflow was 21,000 cusecs. The trend is on the decline.In the Godavari basin, the inflow to Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Dowleswaram remained steady.
Volume of discharge reaches record levels
The cumulative surplus discharged from the barrage into the sea this season — June 1 to October 18 (till 8.30 pm) — crossed 932.55 TMC. This is one of the highest-ever recorded discharges from the barrage, according to officials. The previous highest was in 2006-07 when 968 TMC was let into the sea. This year’s discharge is expected to increase further and may even cross the previous highest due to the forecasted rainfall. Other high discharges were in 2007-08 and 2019-20 with 885.4 TMC and 798.2 TMC respectively going into the sea