Monsoon fury: Heavy discharges from Krishna reservoirs in AP

Hyderabad, Aug 3 (UNI) For the first time this Monsoon Season, Irrigation Authorities in Andhra Pradesh released 5.03 lakh cusecs from Srisailam and 4.46 lakh cusecs from Nagarjunasagar this evening in view of heavy inflows from reservoirs across the river Krishna in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

As the level in Nagarjunsagar rose 575 ft against full level of 590 ft with an inflow of five lakh cusecs, the authorities in Vijayawada downstream started evacuating people living by the side of the river, including Padmavathi Ghat, Ramalingeswar Nagar and Krishna Lanka, to safer places.

The Srisailam Reservoir received over 4.53 lakh cusecs as Karnataka stepped up releases to 3.26 lakh from Almatti and 3.39 lakh cusecs from Narayanpur in the wake of floods in the catchment areas of the river.

Anticipating more releases from the upper riparian states, the authorites lifted seven crest gates to a height of 30 ft to discharge 5,03,025 cusecs downstream.

The combined storage in the reservoirs in the Krishna Basin in the state rose to over 700 tmc ft raising hopes of good khariff crop on 45 lakh acre in the Krishna Delta Region and Nagarjunasagar Command areas.

Bringing down the level to 1033.51 feet in Jurala, the entry point of River Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, the water release was increased to over 4.31 lakh cusecs.

Maintaining the level at 12 feet in the Prakasam Barrage, the authorities released 8,735 cusecs into the Eastern Main Canal, 7,026 cusecs into Western Main Canal and 200 cusecs into the Guntur Channel and 16,675 cusecs into the sea.

At Tungabadra, the storage rose to 103.55 tmc ft with an inflow of 32,889 cusecs. The discharge was maintained at 36,383 cusecs.

UNI CS/SM SBA GC2120