Forecast for flood in Godavari and Krishna Basins

Hyderabad, Sept 25 (INN): The Union Ministry of Water Resources on Sunday issued flood alert in Godavari and Krishna Basins.

In view of heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy rainfall at a few places in Telangana, Madhya Maharashtra Vidarbha Marathwada and North Interior Karnataka with Armoor in Nizamabad district of Telangana reporting 40 cm rainfall and many stations reporting more than 13 cm rainfall and heavy to very heavy rainfall forecast for another two days in catchment areas of river Godavari and its tributaries such as Manjira, Maneru, Purna, Pravara, Penganga and river Krishna and its tributaries of Bhima, river levels in these rivers are rising rapidly.

The reservoirs - Singur, Nizmasagar and Sriramsagar in the districts of Medak and Nizamabad on rivers Manjira and Godavari are also nearing their full capacities and may release heavy discharges in downstream areas.This is likely to affect the districts of Beed and Latur in Maharashtra, Bidar in Karnataka, Medak, Rangareddy and Nizamabad in Telangana in Manjira basin and Parbhani and Nanded districts in Maharashtra and Nizamabad in Telangana upstream of these reservoirs.

Since heavy to very heavy rainfall has been forecast for another two days, it is likely that all these reservoirs will start releasing huge quantity of water in the basins of Penganga, Wardha in the districts of Yeotmal and Chandrapur of Maharashtra and Adilabad of Telangana. The combined flows from main Godavari downstream of Sriramasagar and contributions from river Kaddamvagu and Pranhita, river Godavari downstream of Sriramasagar may also see Low to Moderate floods in the districts of Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar of Telangana for the next three to four days which may further extend to Khammam district in Telangana and East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh in the next four to six days.

Reservoirs in Krishna basins upstream of Srisailam dam are already near their full capacity. Ujjaini Dam on river Bhima in Sholapur district of Maharashtra is nearing its full capacity and in view of the heavy to very heavy rainfall forecasts in Madhya Maharashtra, North Interior Karnataka, most of these dams are likely to release water which may affect the districts of Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Raichur of Karnataka, Mahabubnagar of Telangana and Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and also give good inflows in to Srisailam dam during the next three to four days.Since the Pulichintala Dam has started releasing water, river Krishna is already in spate downstream of Pulichintala dam in Krishna and Guntur districts.

The Centre has advised respective State Governments and district administrations to take highest level of precautionary measures in all the above mentioned basins in the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh during the next three to seven days.