Krishna River - Floods

Floods

In 2009 October heavy floods occurred, isolating 350 villages and leaving millions homeless, which is believed to be first occurrence in 1000 years. The flood resulted in heavy damage to Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Krishna and Nalagonda Districts. The entire city of Kurnool was immersed in approximately 10 feet (3.0 m) water for nearly 3 days.

Water inflow of 1,110,000 cu ft/s (31,000 m3/s)st was recorded at the Prakasam Barriage, which surpassed the previous record of 1,080,000 cu ft/s (31,000 m3/s)recorded in the year 1903.

The ruling Congress government in Andhra Pradesh state attributed the floods to excessive rainfall in the catchment areas of the river upstream of Srisailam dam. However, in the opinion of most experts, and the general public, the floods occurred due to mismanagement on the part of the state government. Influenced by the drought-like situation that had prevailed till the rain event that led to this flood, and to ensure water for irrigation projects in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, the government of the day dithered, while water management experts exhorted it to empty Srisailam reservoir ahead of the expected deluge. This resulted in an unprecedented volume of water backing up behind Srisailam dam, resulting in floods both upstream of the river, and downstream as well, when all the gates of the dam were opened for several days to bring storage at Srisailam back to normal levels. And the villages named Buggamadharam, Vajinepalli, Vellaturu, and Chintriyala were also effected. Mainly Buggamadharam village is surrounded by fully water on 4 sides. The people of this village were shifted to nearby places of factories for help.