An initial survey of Srisailam dam yesterday revealed that top portion of the dam had tilted towards the downstream side by 4 mm on October 3 with an unprecedented inflow of 26 lakh cusecs in the Krishna River that occurs once in 10,000 years. Later it the tilt reached a maximum of 8.8 mm on October 8 when water was discharged from the dam, say Chief Engineer. Although dam design allows bending up to 20 mm, but the dam came back to its normal position yesterday.
Nagarjuanasagar also handled its highest inflow of 15 lakh cusecs October 4 without any tilt which surprised Engineers. Inspections of Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada revealed that none of its portions—either spans or gates, suffered damage.
With an unprecedented flow of flood water from the upstream, it was almost a neck situation for engineers of the above said three. They faced sleepless nights looking at the flow of water, but these three engineering exemplar’s stood to the challenge and saved many lives. Yes, they are the real pride of AP.