Tungabhadra, Handri in spate, Kurnool flooded

HYDERABAD/KURNOOL: What has triggered flooding of Kurnool town, depriving thousands of families shelter and subjecting them to untold suffering.


Tungabhadra which brushes past Kurnool town and Hundri which cuts the town into two are in spate simultaenously besides the local streams that are contributing their mite to the crisis which the administration is finding it difficult to cope up with.

This was in contrast to the floods in July 2007 when only Handri river swelled and inundated the areas adjacent to its course.

The problem started with the officials lifting the gates at Gajuladinne and Sunkesula projects and letting out huge volumes of water into Handri and Tungabhadra respectively.

Handri, which usually is dry and the riverbed always full of kharbooja crop plantation, began flowing wtih a fury no one had noticed earlier after officials released water from Gajuladinee which impounds water from various streams.

The discharge was 2 lakh cusecs at Gajuladinne and as if this were not enough, Vokkera Vagu which joins Handri near Anand Talkies in Kurnool town is also in spate.

As a result, Handri is flowing fiercely and is even threatening to overflow the arterial road bridge near Rajvihar which leads to Nandyal and Gooty. Tungabhdra which has only patches of water here and there is overflwoing after officials relased water from Sunkesula dam.

The discharge at Sunkesula was about 10 lakh cusecs which made the Krishna tributory swell beyond imagination.

The Tungabhadra brushes past Kurnool old town area and as it moves forward Hundri joins the stream outside the town. The Tungabhdara after receiving water from Handri, journeys further and joins the Krishna just ahead of Srisailam reservoir.

According to officials, the Srisailam reservoir which has been receiving inflows of the order of over 13 lakh cusecs has already filled up and the officials were letting down about 10 lakh cusecs.

This was resulting in rebound of water from Tungabhadra and as there was no way the water could course further down, it was resisting onward flow and resulting in inundation of Kurnool town.

The sources said there was no way but to restrict the flow of water downstream at Srisailam as the officials have to keep in mind the possibility of inundation and the huge volume of water after crossing Nagarjuna Sagar will hit Prakasam Barrage, the last project on the Krishna, and inundate Vijayawada and villages in Krishna district.