Flood in river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh has been rising steadily on Wednesday again after showing a falling trend over the last two days, following heavy rains in the upper catchment areas. Consequently, the instant inflow and outflow at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram has risen to 14.42 lakh cusecs (cubic foot of water flow per second). At Bhadrachalam in neighbouring Telangana, the flood in Godavari was recorded at about 15 lakh cusecs, crossing the third danger mark at a level of 54.5 feet. That much flood will flow down into the Cotton Barrage over the next few hours.
The State Disaster Management Authority said the second warning signal remained in place at the Cotton Barrage even as three teams each of the NDRF and the SDRF have been positioned in the flood-hit districts of Alluri Sitarama Raju, B R Ambedkar Konaseema and Eluru for relief operations. “People along the course of the river have to be on alert till the flood recedes,” SDMA Managing Director B R Ambedkar said in a release.
Meanwhile, in river Krishna the discharge from Srisailam reservoir has been 3.95 lakh cusecs on Wednesday morning. Almost the same quantity of floodwater was being released from Nagarjuna Sagar dam downstream, the AP Water Resources Information Management System data showed. At Dr K L Rao Sagar Pulichintala below Nagarjuna Sagar, the inflow was recorded at 3.75 lakh cusecs and outflow 3.56 lakh cusecs.
At Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada further down, a discharge of 2.93 lakh cusecs has been recorded. In the other part of the state, Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers in Srikakulam district have also been receiving copious inflows due to heavy rains in the catchment. At Gotta Barrage in Srikakulam, the flood flow rose to 54,853 cusecs, following which the first warning signal has been raised.