Hundreds of tourists flood to see water gushing in AP dams

: Hundreds of tourists are thronging major dam sites and barrages on the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh as the water body has been witnessing a heavy flood in a decade.

Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams, Dr K L Rao Sagar Pulinchintala balancing reservoir and Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada are attracting curious visitors as Krishna river remained in spate.

The first warning signal has been raised at Prakasam Barrage as the inflow crossed 4.27 lakh cusecs and authorities of Krishna and Guntur districts sounded an alert in the marooned villages on either side of the river Krishna.

The reservoirs are full, the power generating stations are running, water is being let out into the delta canals and other important channels both for irrigation and drinking water needs.

And, lakhs of cusecs of water is also flowing into the Bay of Bengal.

Srisailam reservoir is just three feet short of its full level, with an inflow of 8,94,432 cusecs on Wednesday evening.

As much as 7,50,356 cusecs of water is being discharged downstream, into the Nagarjuna Sagar.

The Sagar is also inching closer to its full capacity, touching 581.3 ft against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 590 ft.

On the same day last year, 153.13 tmc ft of water was let out into Nagarjuna Sagar, while on Wednesday it touched 286.76 tmc ft on Wednesday with an inflow of over 8.33 lakh cusecs.

Though the flood flow appeared to be receding, 5.13 lakh cusecs was being discharged from here to the K L Rao Sagar downstream.

For the first time since its construction six years ago, the K L Rao Sagar is now holding 32.92 tmc ft of water, against its full capacity of 45.77 tmc ft.

The Prakasam Barrage too is full, reaching its capacity of 3.07 tmc ft and, accordingly, the Water Resources Department authorities have been discharging 4,68,720 cusecs into the sea.

NDRF (national disaster response force) teams have been positioned in Krishna and Guntur districts to meet any emergency.

The team rescued four shepherds caught in the flood at Chiruvolu village in Krishna district on Wednesday afternoon.

NDRF, fire service and police personnel rescued six farmers stranded in the river at Papavinasanam in Krishna district, the State Disaster Management Authority said.

All precautionary measures have been taken and the situation is under control, the authority said.