The Godavari delta is in the grip of flood as water is being released into the sea from the Polavaram irrigation project and Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram.
The flood water is expected to arrive the barrage from Bhadrachalam by early Tuesday. According to reports released by the Irrigation Department, the inflow at Sir Arthur Cotton barrage was five lakh cusecs on Monday morning. “We have lifted all the gates of the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage to ensure that the entire inflow of five lakh cusecs is released into the Godavari delta without any delay,” Sairam, an irrigation official, said.
Downstream of Sir Arthur Cotton barrage, the flood water will enter the sea through the canal systems in the eastern, central and western deltas in the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts.
The first Godavari flood warning is issued when the inflow touches 10 lakh cusecs. The inflow now depends on the outflow at the Polavaram irrigation project.
Polavaram Irrigation Project Chief Engineer B. Sudhakarbabu said that the authorities had decided not to impound water at the project site. “We have decided to release the entire 27 tmcft of flood water that arrived at the project by Monday,” he said.
Many rivulets, primarily Sokileru on the outskirts of Chintoor, are in spate cutting off the connectivity between 10 habitations from the administrative headquarters of Chintoor.
