Flood alert sounded as Godavari rises

Scores of hamlets in West and East Godavari Agency marooned

August 16, 2020 09:36 pm | Updated 09:36 pm IST - VELERUPADU (WEST GODAVARI)

Khammam, Telangana, 16/08/2020: Flood effected people moving to Rehabilitation Center during flood in Khammam on Sunday.  Photo: G.N.Rao / The Hindu

Khammam, Telangana, 16/08/2020: Flood effected people moving to Rehabilitation Center during flood in Khammam on Sunday. Photo: G.N.Rao / The Hindu

Officials issued the third warning with the flood level in the Godavari River touching 55 feet at Bhadrachalam by 7 p.m. on Sunday. The water level might increase further, Central Water Commission officials said.

At 6 p.m., the flood level at Koida was 26.120 metres, coffer dam 29.350 metres, Polavaram 14.180 metres and Old Railway bridge (Havelock bridge) 17.480 metres. Discharge from the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage (at Dowleswaram) was 15.23 lakh cusecs.

More than 100 tribal hamlets in West and East Godavari districts were under knee-deep water. Residents of several habitations in Devipatnam, V.R. Puram, Chintur and other mandals were shifted to safer places.

Officials sounded alert in Kukunur, Velerupadu, Polavaram, Chintur, V.R. Puram, Kunavaram and other mandals. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police teams were pressed into service, said AP State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) officials.

Old man drowns

West Godavari district Superintendent of Police (SP) K. Narayan Naik directed Polavaram Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) M. Venkateshwara Rao to arrange pickets and undertake patrolling along the river bund as a precautionary measure.

“SDRF teams have been deployed in the affected habitations. Sixty eight-year-old Ankam Durga Rao drowned in Yerrakaluva at T. Narsapuram village,” Mr. Naik told The Hindu .

Police picket has been arranged at Ayodhya Lanka, Pallepalem, Yelamanchililanka, Enugulalanka, Burugulanka and other island villages in Narsapuram division, the SP said.

“We are appealing to the villagers not to cross streams in spate,” said K. R. Puram ITDA Project Officer R.V. Suryanarayana.

Five rescued

In Krishna district, the district administration set up control rooms in Machilipatnam and Vijayawada and other divisions. People living in low-lying areas were cautioned, said an officer deployed on flood duty.

Munneru, Padamati Vaagu and other rivulets were in spate and road link between the State and Telangana was disrupted at several places, said Krishna district Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Ravindranath Babu.

NDRF team led by Deputy Commandant (Operations) D.N. Singh rescued a farmer — P. Nagaraju and two sons, P. Bhanu and P. Shyam — trapped in Kunchavaagu near Nandigama.

“The team also saved two local swimmers — Y. Lakshmaiah and Y. Subba Reddy — who tried to rescue stranded villagers but themselves got trapped,” NDRF 10th Battalion Commandant Zahid Khan said.

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TELANGANA COPY

The swollen Godavari river continued to flow above the danger mark after breaching the third warning level of 53 feet at Bhadrachalam on Sunday, triggering the threat of flooding in the riverside areas of Bhadrachalam Agency.

Incidentally, the water level in the Godavari recorded its highest ever level of 75.6 feet at Bhadrachalam on August 16 in 1986. The last time when the river crossed the danger mark of 53 feet was on September 8, 2014, when the water level shot up to 56.1 feet. At 7 p.m. on Sunday, the Godavari flowed at 55.20 feet carrying 14.52 lakh cusecs of floodwaters downstream at Bhadrachalam, sources said.

The river is expected to rise by another three to four feet tonight, official sources said, quoting CWC forecast and the copious inflows from Medigadda and other barrages in the upstream.

Road connectivity between Bhadrachalam-Dummugudem-Charla, Charla-Venkatapuram and various important routes along the inter-State borders with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was disrupted as the floodwaters surged through the low-level road points at Turubaka, Kudunuru, Alubaka and various other agency areas.

As the river turned perilous, the authorities started evacuating people living in the flood prone areas to safer places and ramped up emergency response measures to meet any flood exigency.

The backwaters of the Godavari entered into Kotha Colony and AMC colony besides the areas surrounding the flood bank (Karakatta) in Bhadrachalam. This has prompted the authorities to shift as many as 24 families to a temporary flood relief camp set up at a private school in the temple town.

The swirling waters of the Godavari inundated the bathing ghats completely and the kalyana katta on the banks of the river partially.

Rain water gushed into the main street leading to the historic Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple encircling a shopping complex and Nitya Annadhana Satram near the temple complex. Devotees faced severe ordeal in traversing through the waterlogged streets, sources said.

Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar along with Collector M V Reddy visited the Karakatta abutting the Godavari river banks in Bhadrachalam late on Sunday afternoon.

The minister reviewed the arrangements to evacuate people living in flood prone areas to the relief camps and provision of food, groceries, medicines and torch lights at the temporary camps.

The personnel of the NDRF, the police and the rescue team staff of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) have been kept on high alert for deployment for flood emergency response services.

In Khammam district, the swollen Munneru river disrupted the inter-State road link between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as floodwaters flowed across a portion of the Khammam-Bonakal main road on the periphery of the district headquarters town.

Floodwaters encircled several houses in low-lying areas located along the banks of the Munneru in the town.

Flood relief camps have been set up at the Nayabazar Government school and the Government women’s degree college in Khammam.

Transport Minister Mr Ajay Kumar and Collector R V Karnan monitored the flood situation at the banks of the Munneru and provision of amenities at the temporary relief camps set up at two places in the town.

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