‘Red alert’ for certain areas as south Gadchiroli flooded again

NAGPUR: The meteorological department has sounded ‘red alert’ for catchment areas of Indravati and Godavari rivers, causing concern for south Gadchiroli, especially Sironcha where at least 15 villages are already cut-off and roads blocked as flood revisited the area amid heavy downpour. In all, at least 65 villages have been marooned in the flood waters.
The increase in backwaters of Indravati river has led to flooding of Parlakota river cutting off the entire Bhamragarh taluka from the rest of the district for the second time since Sunday.With water flowing dangerously over the Parlakota bridge, around 40 villages in Bhamragarh have once again lost connectivity.
Aniket Amte, administrator of the Lok Biradari Prakalp project at Hemalkasa in Bhamragarh, said it’s high time the height of the Parlakota bridge is raised and villages shifted to safer places from the current locations as repeated flooding is affecting them the most.
“Flooding of five nullahs (Kumarguda, Tadgaon, Perimilli, Kurkeli and Chandra) and Bande river between Alapalli and Bhamragarh submerge bridges every year. Government must think of long-term solution like raising the height of the bridges here to bring relief to these talukas that remain cut-off for several days in a year,” said Amte.
Bhamragarh tehsildar Satyanarayan Silamwar said relief boats and other medicines have been dispatched to ensure there is no casualty. “In June Bhamragarh residents were provided with ration and medicines to last for four months. Hopefully, it will come to their help now,” he said.
Sironcha tehsildar Ramesh Jaswant said disaster management teams have been pressed into action. “We are on our toes for last seven days as incessant rain hs raised the water levels of the main river,” he said.
The road connectivity between Asaralli and Somanpalli in Sironcha has been snapped due to flooding of the Somanpalli nullah. Alapalli-Sironcha road too has been cut off due to overflowing Amraji nullah. Flooding of Koretogu nullah has cut off link between Rompalli and Zinganoor. The Hemalkasa-Karampalli-Surjagadh road has been flooded by Pidmilli nullah while overflowing Arewada nullah has snapped the connection between Kasansoor-Koti and Bhamragarh.