Heavy rains batter Telangana

Hyderabad: Heavy rains lashed several parts of Telangana, including capital Hyderabad, on Friday under the influence of active monsoon conditions. The State government has instructed district authorities to be on high alert as projects across Krishna and Godavari rivers are receiving heavy inflows.

Officials were expecting water levels in main reservoirs will touch optimum levels if Telangana and upper riparian states received heavy rains for another three days. A few rain-related damages were also reported in some districts. Officials say that Telangana will be free from water crisis for the eighth consecutive year if the present downpour continues a day or two.

River Godavari is brimming with copious inflows since Thursday. As per official reports, Sripada Yellampally Project received 26,000 cusecs of water and discharged 3,000 cusecs till Friday evening. Water level in the project has reached 475 feet out of the total capacity of 485 FRL (Full Reservior Level). The project was receiving heavy inflows from the Kadem project. At another major project, Sriram Sagar, the water level had touched 1,071 feet with the continuous inflows. The capacity of the project is 1091 FRL.Heavy rains in the catchment areas of river Godavari and huge inflows from the upper riparian state of Maharashtra were helping in getting good inflows into the reservoirs. If the river receives good inflows with continuous rains for another three days, water required for irrigation purposes during the ongoing Kharif and Rabi seasons will be completely met this year.

Copious inflows in river Krishna was also helping in the increase of water levels in all major reservoirs in the state. The release of water from Almatti and Narayanpur in Karnataka increased water levels in Jurala to 1,040 feet against 1045 FRL.

Officials said other projects on Krishna – Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala - were also getting good inflows from the catchment areas. Power generation at Sagar and Srisailam hydel power houses will be resumed once the reservoirs get adequate water levels. Special irrigation teams have been deployed at all project sites to monitor the flood situation from time to time. Meanwhile, some rain-related damages were reported in Mahbubnagar, Suryapet and Mahabubabad districts following heavy rains. A School bus – carrying 25 children was partially submerged under rail-under-bridge in Mahbubnagar district. The bus was proceeding from Ramachandrapuram to Suguru tanda. Local people pulled the bus from out of flood waters and rescued the students. Reports said that some minor breaches to the canals were also reported in Krishna delta due to sudden downpour.