All the 175 sluice gates of the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage in Dowleshwaram were lifted on Wednesday, discharging over 9.9 lakh cusecs of water. The water level at the barrage across the Godavari had reached 11.75 m.
Over 100 villages in lowlying areas in Khammam, East and West Godavari districts were inundated due to rise of almost all streams in the upland areas. Residents of riverine islands have been evacuated.
Twenty-five villages in the Polavaram Agency area were marooned and a causeway at Chakalipalem at Polavaram in West Godavari district were submerged by the floodwaters.
District collector Vani Mohan paid a visit to Polavaram and asked the local people to stay alert. Floodwaters inundated 20 low-lying villages, including Nadimudi, Talluru, Kondamodalu and Kottayagudem, in Devipatnam mandal in East Godavari district.
Collector Neetu Prasad asked the revenue officials to shift the villagers to safer places. Floodwaters inundated paddy fields too in some parts of the East and West Godavari districts.
Meanwhile, the water level at Bhadrachalam, where the first danger warning was issued on Tuesday after the water level in the Godavari reached 43 feet, rose no further on Wednesday. However, more rainfall in the catchment area may lead to a rise in the water level. Floodwater cut off over 45 villages in Bhadrachalam and Palvancha divisions from the district headquarters and snapped transportation links.
Twenty-five villages in Vajedu mandal were flooded by the swelling Cheekupalli stream. Similarly, eight villages in Chinturu mandal and 12 villages in Dummugudem mandal were flooded by local streams.
Local people now have to depend on country-made boats for transportation. Fifty families were evacuated from Vajedu and Bhadrachalam mandals and shifted to safer places.
Floodwaters inundated over 1000 acres each of cotton and chilli fields in Bhadrachalam. Roads to 28 villages in Vajedu mandal have been under water for the last few days and over 100 families of Kotta Colony in Bhadrachalam were shifted to safer places.
Control rooms are functioning at the collectorates in the three districts to monitor the developments in the rise of the Godavari.
Heavy rainfall in the last couple of days in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh is the main reason for the heavy inflows into the Godavari.