Declining river flows ease flood concerns in Telangana

Flood intensity in Telangana has eased with declining inflows into the Godavari and Krishna rivers. Bhadrachalam recorded 47.5 ft water level, below the second warning mark, while major projects including Yellampalli, Medigadda, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reported falling inflows.

Hyderabad: The flood situation across Telangana is showing signs of improvement as the inflows into major rivers and reservoirs, including the Godavari and Krishna, have considerably decreased over the past 24 hours. State, however, remained vigilant, but the easing water levels have brought relief to flood-affected regions.

At the Sripada Yellampalli Project, as of 6:00 AM today, the water level was recorded at 147.60 meters against a full reservoir level of 148.00 meters, with a storage capacity of 19.06 TMC out of 20.17 TMC. The project recorded a total instant inflow of 49,807 cusecs including 26,425 cusecs from SRSP and 23,382 cusecs from the catchment and an outflow of 57,529 cusecs, with 10 out of 62 gates open. Controlled releases are being maintained to stabilize the situation at this key irrigation project.

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Further downstream, the Medigadda Barrage, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, reported a water level of 95.00 meters against a full reservoir level of 100.00 meters. The barrage recorded equal inflows and outflows of 6,21,840 cusecs, with all 85 gates open on Friday.

This marks a decreasing trend mainly in the contribution of Pranahita river to Godavari flood. At Bhadrachalam, the Godavari River water level stood at 47.50 feet as of 10:00 AM today, with a discharge of 11,19,275 cusecs. This is slightly below the second warning level of 48.00 feet (discharge of 11,44,645 cusecs) but above the first warning level of 43.00 feet with a discharge of 9,32,288 cusecs.

While the river remains in spate, the water level continued to be lower than the peak flood levels recorded in 1986 (75.60 feet, 27.02 lakh cusecs) and 2022 (71.30 feet, 24.43 lakh cusecs), indicating a declining trend in flood intensity.

Krishna Basin
In the Krishna River basin, inflows into the Jurala Project and Srisailam reservoir have also seen a sharp decline. On August 21, inflows stood at 3.65 lakh cusecs for Jurala and 5.40 lakh cusecs for Srisailam. However, following reduced discharges from upstream dams in Karnataka- Almatti and Narayanpur, inflows have decreased significantly by Friday. The Nagarjuna Sagar Project also reported a decreasing trend, with inflows dropping from a peak of 4.32 lakh cusecs last night to lower levels on Friday.