The gates of the Srisailam reservoir in Andhra Pradesh were lifted on Friday after huge inflows of water resulted in the dam almost reaching its full capacity.
Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar Yadav, who was accompanied by Telangana Ministers Niranjan Reddy and Srinivas Goud, opened four gates, releasing around 1 lakh cusecs of water in total, which made its way to the Nagarjunsagar dam downstream.
According to media reports, the Srisailam reservoir is receiving 3.2 lakh cusecs of water from dams in Karnataka presently and the inflow is expected to increase further as the Jurala project upstream on the Krishna river has also been releasing water.
Against its full storage capacity of 885 feet, the dam had water standing at 880 feet, officials said on Friday evening.
Water released from Srisailam to Nagarjuna Sagar. #AndhraPradeshRains pic.twitter.com/xgfBHt4d61
— TOI Hyderabad (@TOIHyderabad) August 9, 2019
There are two major dams on the Krishna River that lie on the Telangana-Andhra border - the Srisailam dam which is upstream and the Nagarjuna Sagar dam which is downstream.
Andhra Pradesh is presently also facing flash floods along the Godavari river as heavy downpour has affected thousands of people in the Godavari basin. Around 19,000 have been evacuated from low-lying areas and shifted to relief camps.
Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas and held a review meeting with ministers and officials concerned in Rajahmundry. Announcing a special aid of Rs 5,000 each to the families whose houses were submerged, Jagan also announced that in areas where the standing crops were washed away, seeds would be distributed free of cost along with the special aid.
Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed, and disaster management officials have also warned fishermen from going into the sea, given the prevalence of floods in the region.