Vijayawada: Heavy rainfall upstream of Prakasam Barrage has raised the spectre of flood in the state. On Thursday, it received 20,000 cusecs of water after the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs received heavy inflows, forcing officials to lift 12 gates of the barrage by one feet. Besides, officials also released 13,500 cusecs of water to the eastern and western canals for drinking purpose. Officials estimate that an additional 7,500 cusecs of water will enter the barrage by Friday morning.
Meanwhile, 19 villages on the banks of river Godavari were cut off following the incessant rains on Thursday. The water level reached 24.75 meters at Polavaram project. Officials restricted the movement of people and vehicles on the Kothuru causeway.
The river received 2.37 lakh cusecs of water at Dowleswaram near Rajahmundry and officials discharged 2.38 lakh cusecs; at Srisailam over Krishna river, officials discharged 57,000 cusecs of water while the inflows stood at 50,000 cusecs. They have also started discharging the water from Nagarjuna Sagar. They discharged 8,210 cusecs of the 35,432 cusecs inflows.