On the same Friday, before midnight, a major disaster struck the Tungabhadra reservoir when one of the crest gates was carried away by the flood. During an official visit to the location, the chain link that was in place since the gates’ construction 70 years ago broke and as many as 180 million gallons of water gushed through the gates of the dam. It has been so severe that authorities have been forced to issue alerts, and the downstream areas are on their increased vigil.
Government Takes Measures on Tungabhadra Dam Gate
Since the mishap, the public has been barred from accessing the reservoir for any reason to avoid repeat scenarios. However, due to the LOC and the dramatic event, Vijayanagar Deputy Commissioner M.S. Diwakar said there was no reason for panic among residents living along the riverbank. The Andhra Pradesh government has especially advised people of the Kurnool district of the Kouthalam, Kosgi, Mantralayam, and Nandavaram mandals. These areas are most affected by the increased water from the flow of the dam.
ORS Tungabhadra Board Secretary ORK Reddy said that the 19th crest gate was shifted about 100 meters downstream because welding linkages of the chain failed. He pointed out that such an occurrence is novel in the history of the dam. An analysis of the process is currently being conducted with the aim of finding out the causes of the failure and ensuring they do not happen again.
Restoration Efforts
The authorities have remained guarded to the impending disaster; Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, who is also the Water Resources Minister, visited the dam site on Sunday. He said we have contracted two companies to work on repairing the affected gate. The extent of the reduction in water storage at the dam was 60 tmcft to enable the installation of a new gate. To this end, releases are targeted at one lakh cusecs per day over the next three to four days. Reddy said that when the water level is reduced by, about 20 feet a new crest gate will be in place.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!