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.
The unabated rainfall and massive inflows into the dam triggered concerns over the safety of the structure.
A portion of the left bank canal of the Kaddam project reportedly suffered a breach on Wednesday morning. A similar breach occurred at the same spot in 1995 when the dam received massive inflows due to unprecedented rains, sources added.
The areas downstream of the dam are in a precarious situation due to copious inflows into the Kaddam project coupled with relentless downpour.
Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy, who took stock of the water level in Kaddam project, said 3,000 families from 12 villages situated along the course of the river were moved to safer places. “I pray to God to stop the rain fury and save the dam,”he said while speaking to the media after visiting the project.
Life hit
Meanwhile, the rain-swollen Godavari and its tributaries paralysed normal life and cut off road link to several remote villages in Palimela mandal and elsewhere in Jayashankar Bhupalapally district as well as nearly 20 villages in the tribal majority Mulugu district, sources said.
Nearly 1,271 people from the flood prone/affected villages from Mangapeta, Tadvai, Eturunagaram, Venkatapuram and some other mandals were sheltered in 21 relief camps set up in various parts of the district.
Collector S. Krishna Aditya oversaw the implementation of the precautionary measures.
The outflow from the Medigadda (Lakshmi Barrage) at Kaleshwaram in Jayashankar Bhupalapally district crossed 17 lakh cusecs at 7 pm.
Following the increase in outflows from all the major reservoirs in the erstwhile Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, and Warangal districts, the water level in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district again crossed the danger mark of 53 feet late on Wednesday afternoon.
Irrigation Department sources said that the water level in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam was likely to reach 63 ft in the next 12 hours owing to the continuous heavy inflows from the upper reaches of the river.
Apart from shifting more than 300 people from the flood affected areas into the relief camps, the authorities sounded a high alert in the entire Bhadrachalam Agency and deployed sectoral officers as well as the NDRF teams at flood prone areas. A helicopter has been deployed in the temple town to aid relief and rescue operations if required.
Transport Minister P. Ajay Kumar personally monitored the flood contingency measures in Bhadrachalam to deal with any eventuality
