Floods in Andhra Pradesh continue; Godavari past 20-lakh cusecs mark

The flood in river Godavari crossed the 20-lakh cusecs mark by 8 pm on Monday, leaving tens of villages inundated along its course in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, but no casualty has been reported so far.

The third warning has been issued at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram as the floodwaters were being discharged into the Bay of Bengal.

Close to 30,000 people in East Godavari and 27,000 in West Godavari were affected so far, according to the reports from the respective district Collectors.

In all, 67 habitations were inundated in West Godavari, 146 remain affected, including 80 inundated, by the deluge in the East, the reports said.

While villages upstream in Rampachodavaram and Devipatnam remained cut off, several villages downstream in the Amalapuram division were flooded.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held a video conference with the two Collectors and directed them to take up rescue and relief measures.

In East Godavari district alone, 95 relief camps were opened and 6,029 victims accommodated.

In the West, nine camps were in operation and 1,546 people sheltered.

"We are providing food and medicines to the people.

Besides, we have made arrangements to supply essential commodities by boats to the other affected villages, East Godavari district Collector Muralidhar Reddy said.

Masks and sanitisers were also made available in view of the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Antidote for snakebite was kept ready in both the districts in the event of serpent attacks.

Three teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and one of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been carrying out operations in Rampachodavaram, Yetapaka and Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district.

Three SDRF teams were deployed in the neighbouring West Godavari, according to the State Disaster Management Commissioner K Kanna Babu.

According to preliminary estimates, horticulture crops in 872 hectares and agriculture crops in 34.32 hectares in East Godavari were submerged.

In the West, about 580 hectares of agriculture crop were affected.

Meanwhile, river Krishna received flood as a result of copious rains in the upper catchment.

Srisailam reservoir received an inflow of 2.03 lakh cusecs by Monday evening, of which 58,747 cusecs were discharged downstream.

Nagarjuna Sagar received 40,259 cusecs and Pulichintala 22,683 cusecs but discharges from the two have not yet begun as they still have a large flood cushion.

But, a discharge of over 91,000 cusecs from Muniyeru rivulet saw the inflow at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada swell to 1.29 lakh cusecs.

As the barrage is already full to the brim, authorities are letting out 1.33 lakh cusecs of water into the sea.

Earlier, at noon, the river water- level crossed 60 feet at Bhadrachalam in neighbouring Telangana, and the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram received 18.27 lakh cusecs.

The second warning was continuing at Dowaleswaram, the State Disaster Management Authority had said.

(Photo credit for representation: PTI)