Incessant rains battered north Telangana for the fifth day in a row on Wednesday triggering massive outflows from the major reservoirs/irrigation projects into the swollen Godavari leading to evacuation of around 10,000 people from the flood-prone areas in Nirmal, Mulugu, Bhadradri-Kothagudem and other districts to safer areas.
The more-than-six-decade-old Kaddam Narayana Reddy (Kadem) project in Nirmal district received an unprecedented inflow of five lakh cusecs following the relentless downpour in the upper reaches of Kaddam river, a tributary of the Godavari, late on Tuesday night.
As the water level in the dam reached the full reservoir level of 700 ft around Tuesday midnight, the project officials opened 17 of the 18 floodgates of the dam, letting out around 3 lakh cusecs of surplus waters downstream. One of the flood gates reportedly developed a technical snag and the water level in the dam turned perilous in the early hours of Wednesday. This has prompted the authorities to sound a flood alert in the villages located nearby in the small hours of the day.
