Reservoirs in Telangana, AP brim with inflows due to heavy rains

HYDERABAD: With heavy rains lashing Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the last four days, all reservoirs were filled to their capacity. The irrigation department officials in both the Telugu-speaking States were discharging the surplus water on a day-to-day basis and closely monitoring inflows on an hourly basis.

In Telangana, the first warning level was issued by officials in Godavari near Bhadrachalam. On Thursday, the flood level in Godavari was above the 43 feet danger mark with a discharge of 9,46,412 cusecs. With the increasing water level in the river, flood water entered the temple town of Bhadrachalam. Similarly, in Nirmal district, eleven gates of Kadem project were lifted following the heavy rains in the district.

The full water level of the Kadem project was 700 feet and currently it continues to be around 696.25 feet. Around 1,86,200 cusecs of flood water was entering the inflow project while 1,36,291 cusecs of flood water was being released downstream from the project. Due to heavy rains, all roads leading to the temple town Vemulawada in Rajanna Siricilla were closed. Budaga Jangala Colony in Vemulawada was submerged by flood waters and people faced severe hardships.

The municipal officials swung into action and shifted the people to nearby rehabilitation centres. On the other hand, the officials also diverted the vehicular traffic flow from Vemulawada to alternate routes. Meanwhile, Hyderabad's Hussain Sagar lake has filled to the brim due to incessant rains for the last four days. The water levels touched the full tank level (FTL) of 514.75 meters on Friday and the total discharge was 5,800 cusecs. Authorities were closely monitoring the water level and the discharge.

Telangana Minister for Animal Husbandry reviewed the situation with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Ronald Rose. He asked officials to alert people in low-lying areas, including in areas abutting the discharge channels of Hussain Sagar. The GHMC Commissioner inspected water levels and discharge in Hussain Sagar along with Enforcement, Vigilance & Disaster Management (EVDM) director Prakash Reddy, zonal commissioner Ravi Kiran and other officials.

On the other hand, the officials had also lifted the gates at the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs on Friday evening. The water board officials had raised the two gates of Osman Sagar (Gandipet) reservoir and two gates of Himayat Sagar up to one foot each to release the flood water into the Musi river.

In Andhra Pradesh, flood levels in the Godavari river at Dowleswaram Barrage stood at 7.9 feet and the officials were expecting the flood levels to increase more by Friday night. A total of 11,300 cusecs of water was discharged into the irrigation canals and around 4.81 lakh cusecs of flood waters were released into the sea from the barrage on Friday. With increasing flood levels, officials cautioned people residing in low lying areas, especially in Konaseema region, to be on alert as there were reports of heavy rains to lash Andhra Pradesh for the next four days.