Authorities have urged farmers and fishermen in Belagavi and Bagalkot districts to stay away from the Krishna river and its tributaries after water discharge from Maharashtra reservoirs crossed 2.5 lakh cusecs on Friday.
Although rainfall has eased in both districts, 12 bridge-cum-barrages in Belagavi and three in Bagalkot remain under water, forcing commuters to take alternative routes.
This is the first time this month that discharge has surpassed the alert level of 2.4 lakh cusecs. The danger level is around 2.9 lakh cusecs, officials said.
At the inter-State border gauge near the Kallol barrage, the outflow stood at 2,51,333 cusecs , 24,626 cusecs higher than Thursday. Officials noted that inflow levels vary depending on rainfall in Maharashtra’s catchment areas and releases from upstream dams.
The Hipparagi barrage recorded an inflow of 2.26 lakh cusecs and an outflow of 2.25 lakh cusecs, with no live storage remaining.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri reservoir reported an inflow of 2.38 lakh cusecs and an outflow of 2.5 lakh cusecs. To limit flooding in backwater areas, officials reduced gross storage to 96.862 tmcft, down from 120 tmcft at the start of August, against a full capacity of 123 tmcft.
At the Raja Lakhamagouda reservoir in Hidkal on the Ghataprabha, storage stood at 50 tmcft against a capacity of 51 tmcft, with an inflow of 27,109 cusecs and outflow of 27,579 cusecs.
Meanwhile, the Renuka Sagar dam on the Malaprabha held 34 tmcft of water against its full capacity of 37 tmcft, with inflow at 7,592 cusecs and outflow at 6,794 cusecs.
