Heavy rains in catchment areas led to sudden inflow

Jurala and Srisailam, the first two dams on the Krishna river in the Telugu states, received a massive but sudden inflow of water — almost two lakh cusecs — on Saturday.

On Saturday, they opened the crest gates to release the unexpected inflows.

“We do not know how long this flood will continue. There was also information from the river gauges about a sudden drop in inflows on Saturday evening, but the flood water is still flowing in. We will able to come to an estimate by Sunday,” Jurala project chief engineer T. Khagender said.

The situation at Srisailam appeared to be satisfactory with the dam for the first time this season receiving inflows at the rate of 2 lakh cusecs from Saturday morning. This includes inflows from Jurala (Krishna) and Sunkesula (Tungabhadra).

The inflows amounting to 1.12 lakh cusecs from Sunkesula was the result of the heavy rains in the catchment area of the project.

At the Tungabhadra dam itself at Hospet in Karnataka, the inflow was meagre.

The water from Sunkesula resulted in the Tungabhadra river in Kurnool district witnessed a good surface flow. The water reached the bathing ghats at the Alampur Jogulamba temple.

According to Srisailam project chief engineer C. Narayana Reddy, the inflow was fluctuating, and there was no certainty on how long it would continue.

“If the inflow is steady at 2 lakh cusecs for 24 hours, we will get around 16 tmc ft of water,” he said. The water level at Srisailam stood at 838.2 feet against the full reservoir level of 885 feet. The reservoir has 60 tmc ft against full capacity of 215 tmf ft.

With the water level rising above the Minimum Draw Down Level (MDDL) of 834 ft, officials started operating the lift irrigation scheme at Malyala and drawing water for the Handri-Neeva canal in AP.

TS irrigation officials operated pumps to lift water for the Kalwakurthy scheme.

■ SRISAILAM DAM for the first time this season received inflows at the rate of 2 lakh cusecs from Saturday morning, which includes inflows from Jurala and Sunkesula.