GUNTUR: The entire Repalle town was today surrounded by 5 ft water resulting in snapping of road communication to it.
The Repalle municipality, which has a radius of almost 60 km, was totally submerged by around 10 a.m.
The breach to river Krishna near Oleru village in Guntur district was responsible for the flooding of the town.
Earlier, 30 villages in Repalle and Bhattiprolu mandals were inundated.
While almost 8,000 people from Repalle were shifted to relief camps today, 15,000 people went to their relatives’ houses elsewhere in the district and another 15,000 are to be on the roof-tops waiting for the floods to recede.
Meanwhile, the officials said that those who chose to stay back were indeed safe as the water would not increase any further, with the discharge from the barrage also decreasing and the breaches causing the spread of water in all directions.
On the other hand, prisoners in Repalle sub-jail were shifted to the Tenali sub-jail by yesterday evening along with many people in the municipality. It is estimated that almost 500 huts were washed away in the floods while many concrete structures were damaged in the floods.
Meanwhile, yet another breach developed but in the Krishna western canal.
The breach in the KWC developed just about a few metres from where the breach to the river bund ended and spread to a length of almost 100 ft.
Meanwhile, water level in the Krishna river had come down by almost 2-3 ft, thanks to lower discharges from Prakasam barrage and the breaches to the bunds.
Coming to the Krishna district, the situation continued to be the same with no reports of more villages getting inundated.
But, with the water level coming down, the authorities could go a bit deeper into the river and save a few more people which was not possible until yesterday. It is estimated that the authorities had saved almost 300 people from the marooned lanka villages in Krishna district.
On the other hand, the water level started decreasing in the Kanchikacherla, Jaggiahpeta and a few other floodaffected mandals in the Krishna district.
The officials said that the floods, although receding, would continue for the next two days, after which the situation would normalise to a large extent.
ramagopalasastry@epmltd.com