The water level in the Godavari river has reached 53.90 feet in July for first time in last several decades, the irrigation officials have said.
The river has been receiving record inflows since the last four days owing to heavy downpour in its catchment areas in Telangana and Maharashtra, causing flash floods along its course.
The officials issued third flood warning at Bhadrachalam in Telangana on July 11, with the river flowing above the danger mark of 53 feet. They said that it was first such incident to be witnessed in July.
The Central Water Commission (CWC) officials said that incessant rains in Telangana and Maharashtra in the last four days filled the dams and the Godavari received huge inflows from its tributaries Pranahita and Indravathi which are also in spate.
Out of the 27 Rain Gauge Stations that help estimate the rainfall, 25 are in Telangana and three in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. About 25 mm rainfall was recorded in all 25 Rain Gauge Stations in Telangana on July 9, said an Irrigation engineer.
Polavaram Project Chief Engineer B. Sudhakar Babu told The Hindu that this was the highest water in the Godavari to be recorded in July.
“Compared to the data of the last few decades, the Godavari has recorded the highest water level (53 feet) in July. Usually, the water level flowing above the danger level is seen in the first and second weeks of August. Issuing of the third flood warning in July happened for the first time,” he said.
48 gates lifted
Water level at the Polavaram spillway stood at 34.050 metre on Tuesday morning. The officials have discharged about 12 lakh cusecs of water into the sea so far.
“We are discharging flood water from Polavaram project through 48 gates and 10 river sluice blocks. About 10.90 lakh cusecs of water was discharged last year. It crossed 12 lakh cusecs on July 12,” Mr. Sudhakar Babu said.
