River Krishna in spate in AP, first warning in place in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Copious rains in the upper catchment areas, as well as within the state, have left the river Krishna swollen once again.

The first warning signal has been raised as the flood flow crossed five lakh cusecs at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday afternoon.

The instant inflow and outflow recorded at the Barrage was 5.09 lakh cusecs, according to the State Disaster Management Authority.

Krishna district Collector Ranjit Basha asked people living in villages along the course of the river, downstream Prakasam Barrage, to be on alert because of the flood surge.

He asked people, particularly those living in lanka villages, not to venture into the river and also shift their cattle to safer places.

The Collector also put the revenue machinery on alert and directed the village revenue officers to caution people in the vulnerable mandals.

Control rooms have been opened in the district Collectorate in Machilipatnam and also the revenue divisional offices in Machilipatnam and Vuyyuru to provide assistance to people in case of emergency.

According to the state Water Resources Department data, Srisailam reservoir received an inflow of 4.01 lakh cusecs, while the outflow was 4.45 lakh cusecs.

Downstream, 3.65 lakh cusecs was being released from Nagarjuna Sagar, while the Dr K L Rao Sagar Pulichintala project received an inflow of 4.09 lakh cusecs.