Flood waters continue to swirl in Godavari, Krishna; gates of reservoirs opened

AMARAVATI: With heavy and continuous rainfall in the Godavari and Krishna catchment areas, major irrigation projects on both the rivers are filled to capacity and some of them have reached full reservoir level. As the huge inflows continued, the Irrigation Department officials were forced to open the floodgates to release the heavy inflows to the downstream areas.

According to Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA), the second warning signal has been continued in the river Godavari as the water levels stood at 46.5 feet at Bhadrachalam. Currently, the inflows and outflows stand at 13.29 lakh cusecs at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Dowleswaram near Rajamahendravaram. Similar is the case with the river Krishna near Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada. The current inflows stood at 2,68,000 lakh cusecs at Prakasam Barrage. The officials have released the flood water into the downstream of Prakasam Barrage by lifting 50 gates by six feet and 20 gates by five feet. At the Pulichintala Project, the water level stood at 49.31 M (161.776 ft)/ 53.34 M (175.00 ft). The current flows stood at 53,505 cusecs. At the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the total outflows stood at 6,290 cusecs.

In a statement issued on Friday, APSDMA managing director Dr BR Ambedkar said that people along the Godavari and Krishna riverbanks should remain on alert as the flood level might increase further. Strict vigils have been kept in 42 mandals and 458 villages in flood-affected districts are on constant alert. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and four teams of SDRF were deployed to carry out rescue operations in the flood-affected areas.

Ambedkar appealed to people in the deluge-hit habitations in Godavari region to cooperate with the authorities and move to safer places as the second warning has been continuing. People should also avoid crossing the causeways and lakes which were overflowing, endangering their lives, he said. In Godavari river catchment area, Eluru SP Mary Prasanthi along with SDRF personnel and revenue department officials inspected the low-lying areas in Velerupadu and Kukkunuru mandals and shifted the people to rehabilitation centres.

Mary Prasanth appealed to the fishermen not to venture into the river Godavari, lakes and streams for fishing as there were chances of heavy rains in the agency and other areas. In case of any emergency, people could dial 100 to get assistance from police, SDRF and other departments, said Polavaram DSP Srinivasulu.

Rainwater brings traffic on NH-65 in NTR district to halt, TSRTC suspends all regular services to Vijayawada

As Munneru vagu is in spate at Aithavaram village near Nandigama and is flowing across the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) suspended all regular services to Vijayawada. Instead, it operates buses at an interval of half an hour on the diverted route via Miryalaguda and Piduguralla.

Vehicles coming from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam were diverted in both directions via Kodada, Huzurnagar, Miryalaguda, Piduguralla, Guntur and Vijayawada. From Thursday, vehicular movement was interrupted on the NH near Aithavaram following the floods at Munneru vagu. A group of students from Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacherla were struck in the floods near Aithavaram on Friday. All of them were traveling in private vehicles to appear for the degree semester examinations at Kakani Venkata Ratnam College in Nandigama. The flood waters in Munneru vagu have prevented their vehicular movement. Police swung into action and shifted the stranded students through a crane to a safer location.

Meanwhile, Vijayawada DCP (L&O) Vishal Gunni along with MLC M Aruna Kumar inspected the flood situation on NH-65 near Aithavaram village on Friday. Vishal Gunni said that Muneru vagu was receiving heavy inflows from neighbouring Telangana. Police have totally prevented vehicular movement on the NH-stretch. There were chances of flooding to recede in Muneru Vagu by Friday night.

Aruna Kumar said that the authorities concerned had made all arrangements to avoid inconvenience for the people in Nandigama constituency. Rescue teams and police personnel were deployed to save the people stranded in the floods in the constituency. He appealed to the people not to travel on the NH-stretch until the flood waters receded.