Flood alert issued as dam gate breaks in Guntur district

HYDERABAD: A crest gate of the Pulichintala Irrigation Project in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, broke and was washed away as it was raised to release the flood waters on Thursday, August 5. The officials from the Department of Revenue, Government of Andhra Pradesh, evacuated the people from low-lying areas along the river because the water discharge will increase steadily to 6 lakh cusecs.

A flood alert has also been issued in the downstream areas and at Prakasam Bridge, Vijayawada. As the engineers were trying to raise two hydraulic-operated gates to discharge the flood waters received overnight, gate number 16 broke around noon, which got stuck and was washed away by the heavy flow of water.

Krishna District Collector J Nivas and Guntur District Collector Vivek Yadav issued flood alerts for all villages along the river because the officials of Pulichintala are about to discharge more flood water to reduce the pressure on the dam. The officials said that they have begun working on erecting the emergency gate.

P Anil Kumar, Minister of Irrigation, Government of Andhra Pradesh, visited the dam in the morning to take stock of the situation. The official said that the tremendous pressure of water caused the welding joints to open up which came apart completely and got washed away.