Vijayawada: As many as 40 gates were lifted by seven feet, and another 30 gates were lifted by six feet at the Prakasam barrage to release 2.60 lakh cusecs of surplus floodwater downstream into the sea at 4 pm on Thursday. The total inflow at the Prakasam barrage stood at 2.77 lakh cusecs, with 10,187 cusecs of water released to the Krishna east main canal, along with 6,522 cusecs of water to the Krishna west main canal, and another 200 cusecs to the Guntur channel, by maintaining a 12-foot level at the barrage on Thursday.Earlier in the day, the flood discharge reached as high as 2.89 lakh cusecs, as record 2.72 lakh cusecs of floodwater was released downstream into the sea. The irrigation authorities have been operating all 70 gates of the Prakasam barrage, varying their heights depending on the inflows from the upstream Pulichintala project into the barrage.Meanwhile, NTR district collector Dr G Lakshmisha, along with revenue officials, toured parts of Ibrahimpatnam mandal and visited Chinna Lanka, Pedha Lanka, and Ferry Ghat areas, taking stock of the flood situation there. The collector said that the flood level at the Prakasam barrage was expected to touch the three lakh mark by Thursday evening and instructed the officials to be on alert.
