Tungabhadra dam receives huge inflows, alert sounded

Kurnool: Torrential rains lashing Karnataka and Maharashtra are bringing huge inflows into Tungabhadra dam. Owing to heavy inflows into the dam, authorities first lifted five crust gates to an average height of 1.5 metre and released 12,423 cusecs of water into the river. Up to 5 pm, the inflows were registered at 85,676 cusecs on Tuesday.

With the increasing inflows into the dam, the authorities once again lifted 10 crust gates to the height of 1 metre releasing 16,316 cusecs of floodwater into the river. The total capacity of the dam is 105.77 tmc ft. The storage level of the dam has reached to 96 tmc ft. According to the authorities of the irrigation department, more gates are likely to be lifted if floodwater inflow increases.

Dam authorities issued a second flood warning alerting people downstream. The inflows into the Tungabhadra reservoir may increase due to release from the Tunga dam as it is raining in the catchment area reservoir.

Depending upon the inflows into the reservoir, surplus water will be released into the river at any moment. The outflows may vary from 5,000 cusecs to 1,00,000 cusecs.

In view of the flood warning report released by the dam authorities, the district collector, P Koteshwara Rao, has directed the revenue divisional officer (RDOs), tahsildars and other officials concerned to be alert and stay updated about the rising levels of water in the river. The villagers residing on the banks of the Tungabhadra river are cautioned not to venture into the river.