Officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited have begun releasing water from Basavasagar reservoir at Narayanpur in Hunsagi taluk of Yadgir district on Thursday after the reservoir received more than a lakh cusecs water from the Alamatti dam.

By 5 p.m., the outflow from the reservoir into the river course was 1.75 lakh cusecs, while the inflow was measured at 1.85 lakh cusecs. The water level stood at 491.81 m against the full reservoir level of 492.25 m, officials told The Hindu.

Raichur and Yadgir districts, which were badly affected by the floods in the Krishna and the Bhima last month, are facing the threat of another spell of floods if the outflow were to be increased in the Krishna river course in the coming days as the inflow at the reservoir would increase following heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and catchment areas in the State. Last month, several thousand acres of agriculture land was destroyed, a number of houses damaged, electricity poles uprooted and several thousand people from the affected areas were shifted to safer places when both the districts faced floods in the Krishna and the Bhima.

Bridge closed

Sheelahalli bridge that connects Hanchinal village with several other villages in Lingsugur taluk of Raichur district was slightly submerged by the Krishna waters on Thursday. Assistant Commissioner of Lingsugur Sub Division Rajshekhar Dambala and other officials visited the spot to take stock of the situation. They put up barricades on the bridge closing the stretch for traffic and preventing people from crossing it. They also deployed police personnel on round-the-clock duty.

According to sources in the district administration, personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services and a boat have been kept ready near Yaragodi village to attend to emergencies, if any. Initiatives taken during the floods last month continue with a fresh caution issued to residents in the Krishna basin villages not to venture into the river course for any purpose.