Visakhapatnam saw heavy rain since early morning Friday owing to the formation of a low pressure area over Bay…Read More
VISAKHAPATNAM: A flood alert has been sounded in Andhra Pradesh as rivers near warning markers owing to continuous rains under the influence of the active southwest monsoon along catchment areas of rivers and north-coastal part of the state. The rains are being attributed to the formation of a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal.
Director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Amaravati centre, S Stella said, “The low pressure area formed on Thursday over north-coastal Odisha moved upwards, that is towards northern Odisha on Friday. Under its influence, there will be light to moderate rain in many areas and heavy rain in isolated places.”
All allied departments have been put on alert and instructed to keep a watch on the flood situation and rainfall in AP’s districts. District collectors held virtual meetings on Friday on the issue.
On Friday, the outflow of River Godavari reached 7.8 lakh cusecs at Dowleswaram barrage near Rajahmundry in East Godavari district. R Mohana Rao, irrigation department executive engineer of Dowleswaram project, said that the first warning will be when the floodwater reaches 10 lakh cusecs, second when it reaches 14 lakh cusecs and third when it reaches 17 lakh cusecs.
“Based on current observation, there is a 70% chance of the first warning flag coming up at Dowleswaram as the floodwater outflow has already crossed 7 lakh cusecs on Friday. However, there is no reason to panic,” Mohana Rao added.
Tirumala Rao, superintending engineer of Nagavali irrigation project at Thotapalli in Vizianagaram, said that the water level in the river is normal but there is a possibility of floods with rainfall in catchment areas of the river in Odisha.
According to Krishna River conservator Swaroop Kumar, nearly 22,000 cusecs of water was released from Prakasam barrage on Friday. “We expect nearly 60,000 cusecs of inflow in the river over the next three days due to heavy rainfall. We are monitoring the water flow continuously,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, many tribal hamlets in Visakhapatnam Agency have been cut off from mandal headquarters due to breaches in the road network owing to heavy rains over the last three days.