Flood havoc continues in AP districts, SDRF deployed

The swollen Godavari river continued to cause flood havoc in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as tens of villages lay marooned even as three teams of State Disaster Response Force have been deployed for rescue and relief operations.

Two teams of SDRF personnel have been deployed in West Godavari and one in the East.

One more team of SDRF is also being moved to Rajamahendravaram.

The second warning signal has been raised after the floodwater discharge at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram crossed 14.84 lakh cusecs.

The East Godavari district administration moved over 2,000 people to four relief camps under Rampachodavaram and Yetapaka divisions, according to the State Disaster Management Authority.

No casualties or damages to houses have been reported yet while enumeration of crop loss has to be taken up.

Devipatnam is the worst hit as 36 villages in the mandal were fully marooned.

Besides road connectivity, power supply to these villages too has been cut off.

East Godavari district Collector Muralidhar Reddy said 32 special teams have been constituted to oversee rescue and relief operations in the affected mandals and villages.

The SDRF teams brought in boats and other equipment to evacuate people to safety.

A team of the National Disaster Response Force from Visakhapatnam is also being moved to Yetapaka in East Godavari district.

In West Godavari, over 38 villages under Polavaram, Velerupadu and Kukkunoor mandals remained cut off due to the flood surge.

The Kademma outfall sluice near Polavaram remained submerged as a result of which agriculture fields in tens of acres downstream got inundated.

Meanwhile, the Prakasam Barrage on river Krishna at Vijayawada received a flow of 1.56 lakh cusecs on Sunday and the authorities discharged 1.25 lakh cusecs into the sea.

Incessant rains in the last three days caused heavy flooding from Muniyeru rivulet, filling the Prakasam Barrage to the brim (3.07 tmc ft).

As the flood flow is expected to increase, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh asked people residing in low-lying areas downstream the barrage to take adequate precautions.

Image Credits: PTI