HYDERABAD/WARANGAL/BHADRACHALAM: The menacing Godavari flood crippled several regions in the State on Thursday, inundating the temple town of Bhadrachalam and the prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) besides rendering thousands homeless.
It is learnt that the flooding at the KLIS could end up causing major financial loss running into hundreds of crores. As many as 29 motors, including 139 MW capacity “Bahubali” motors, were submerged under floodwaters.
As for the human casualties, one each in Adilabad and Nizamabad were swept away in swirling waters taking the toll in the floods to 10. The Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued two persons who were stranded on a water tank at Somanpally village in Mancherial district.
The NDRF, SDRF and other rescue teams have already shifted over 19,000 people to relief camps. The situation is particularly grim in Bhadrachalam where the water level is expected to touch 70 ft by Friday — something that hasn’t happened in recent memory.
The human loss apart, it was the flooding at Kaleshwaram that has come as a big setback to the State. Medigadda and Annaram barrages of Kaleshwaram had to contend with inflows more than their designed discharge capacity. Pump houses of these barrages at Kannepalli and Annaram have been flooded.
Official sources told Express that pump houses, several electric motors, control panels and other equipment were submerged. Besides the equipment required for pumping the water, several computers, floodwater managing systems and others also went under the floodwaters. An official, requesting anonymity, pegged the loss at approximately `400 crore.
However, Advisor to the State government on lift irrigation projects, K Penta Reddy said that submergence of pumps and motors during natural disasters and during unprecedented rains was very common.“There is no need to worry about pump houses. The structures of Kaleshwaram were not damaged and there would be no damage to submerged motors,” he said.
Medigadda barrage pump house is located at Kannepalli village near Kaleshwaram in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district. There are 17 motors at Kannepalli and 12 at Annaram. Officials lifted 81 gates of Medigadda barrage, which was receiving 27,88,050 cusecs. The outflows of the barrage were also 27,88,050 cusecs. However, the designed discharge of Medigadda is only 26 lakh cusecs and its storage capacity is 16.17 tmcft.
The officials also lifted 66 gates of Annaram barrage, which was receiving 16 lakh cusecs. Annaram’s storage capacity is 10.87 and it is filled to the brim. The water is flowing at 14 meters level at Eturungaram area.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force rescued two persons at Somanpally village in Mancherial district. On the request of MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao, the IAF dispatched a Chetak helicopter from Hakimpet station and rescued the duo. “Winching operations require the pilot to maintain an absolutely steady hover over the area. This requires immense skill and concentration. This task is all the more difficult over water, as the pilots do not have sufficient visual references,” a release said.
Bhadrachalam, on the other hand, is bracing for more agony. With the water level expected to touch 70 feet on Friday, the bridge on Godavari in the temple town was closed for transportation, a first in 36 years. The discharge from Bhadrachalam at 9 pm was 19,90,294 cusecs. The bridge was last closed for transportation in August 1986.Manthani town was also marooned after a gap of 25 years.
Moderate rainfall in districts
Till 8 pm on Thursday, there was only moderate rainfall in districts like Bhupalpally, Mancherial, Hanamkonda, Peddapalli, Adilabad and Jagtial districts. Kataram in Bhupalpally recorded the highest rainfall of 6.2 cm
During the last 24 hours, Arnakonda and Gunid in Karimnagar recorded the highest rainfall of 23 cm and 21 cm, followed by Bheemgal (19 cm) and Alur in Nizamabad (17.3 cm)
Intensity to EASE
According to IMD, only heavy and not extremely heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places in Nirmal, Nizamabad, Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Jangaon, Siddipet, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri and Kamareddy districts on Friday