Telangana Rains: Water level in Godavari increasing steadily at Bhadrachalam

Floodwaters have been entering into the river due to heavy rains in the upper catchment area in Chhattisgarh as well as in Kothagudem district.

Kothagudem: The water level in river Godavari at Bhadrachalam in the district has been increasing steadily and reached 35.10 feet at 5 pm with a discharge of 5,96,805 cusecs of floodwater on Saturday.

Floodwaters have been entering into the river due to heavy rains in the upper catchment area in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh as well as in Kothagudem district. According to officials in the past 24 hours, 81,572 cusecs of excess water has been released downstream from Taliperu project. At 5 am, 25 gates of Taliperu project in Cherla mandal were opened for free flow discharging of 1,43,248 cusecs of excess water. The project inflow was 1,47,800 cusecs. Water level in Godavari was expected to reach 41 feet by Sunday. The first warning level is 43 feet.

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Cherla mandal received a very heavy rainfall of 14.6 cm while Dummgudem, Manugur and Julurpad mandals received a heavy rainfall of 8.4 cm, 6.4 cm and 6.9 cm while the other mandals received moderate to rather heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.

Coal production and overburden removal was affected in SCCL opencast mines with the incessant rains in Kothagudem, Manugur and Sathupalli, where 6.1 cm rainfall was recorded. Kothagudem Collector, Jithesh V Patil and SP, B Rohith Raju advised people living in low lying areas to be alert and should not come out unless it was an emergency. The Collector informed that a control room was set up at Kothagudem collectorate and asked the public to give information through message or video to 08744-241950 or WhatsApp number 9392919743 in case of any emergency.

Patil directed irrigation and revenue officials to keep sand bags ready at all projects, to keep boats available in Manugur, Bhadrachalam, Aswaraopet and Cherla mandal. Every gram panchayat secretary would be given a mike and a torch light. Two persons in every village have to be trained to share location and flood related information over mobile phones, he noted.

SP Rohith Raju said that barricades were set up at the roads where the traffic was obstructed due to floodwaters and patrolling was intensified under the limits of police stations. Those who were in distress should call dial-100 to avail police services.

ITDA project officer B. Rahul informed that control room numbers were set up at Bhadrachalam ITDA office with contact number: 7995268352, sub-Collector office: 08743-232444 and 7981219425 to handle flood related emergencies..