RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: The flood fury of Godavari continues unabated. The flood flow may touch 15.75 feet (third warning level) from the present 15 feet at Dowleswaram Barrage by Sunday if the present inflows continue or increase further. At Bhadrachalam, the flood level rose to 56 feet on Saturday and it is likely to cross 59 feet by tonight.
About 16 lakh cusecs of water are being released into the sea from Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram following heavy rains in upper catchment areas of Godavari. Several low-lying areas in Alluri Sitarama Raju district have been cut off from the rest of the world. Most of the villages in Kunavaram, VR Puram, Chinturu and Yetapaka mandals in the ASR district have been marooned.
Godavari river conservator R Kasi Visveswara Rao said, “A high alert has been sounded in all low-lying areas and Lanka villages as the flood level in the river rising at Bhadrachalam and Dowleswaram Barrage. Though the situation is under control, the next two days are crucial.”
About 6,000 families in Kunavaram, 4,000 each in Chinturu and VR Puram and 1,000 in Yetapaka mandals have been affected by the Godavari floods and shifted to rehabilitation centres. About 250 villages have been submerged in the four mandals. Ration and other essentials are being sent to rehabilitation centres in country boats and launched from Chinturu, said ASR District Collector Sumit Kumar.
At Kummuru village in Chinturu Mandal, a large number of women staged Jala Deeksha in flood water on Saturday in protest against the State government’s ‘indifferent’ attitude to their demand for including their village in 41 contours of the Polavaram Irrigation Project.
West Godavari District Collector P Prashanthi visited the flood-affected island villages, including Ponnapalli, Patha Navarasapuram, Doddipatla Lakshmipalem, Darbarevu, Biyyaputippa, Vemuladeevi, Peddalanka, Kanakayalanka and Ayodhyalanka, and reviewed the situation. She asked the people of island villages to shift to rehabilitation centres. About 30 pregnant women were shifted to government hospitals.
Eluru District Collector Y Prasanna Venkatesh said sandbags and other materials were kept ready at Kukkunur and Velerupadu mandals if the intensity of inflows causes breaches to flood banks. The R&B and irrigation staff were asked to intensify vigil on the river banks. Joint Collector Lavanya Veni has been appointed in charge of Velerupadu Mandal to monitor the flood situation and relief and rehabilitation measures. As many as 13,000 people from 41 habitations in Polavaram, Velerupadu and Kukunuru mandals have been shifted to eight relief camps, the Joint Collector said.
Several island villages in the Konaseema district are in the grip of fear with the steady rise in water level in Godavari. The road connectivity has been cut off at several places. District Collector Himanshu Shukla declared a holiday for 30 schools in the flood-affected mandals on Monday.
Fisherman families reluctant to leave the flooded village
About 40 fishermen families in Madduri Lanka expressed their reluctance to vacate their flooded island village. Kovvur RDO Mallibabu visited Madduri Lanka and urged them to shift to a relief camp set up for flood victims. Boats were arranged to shift the fishermen families