AMALAPURAM: The flood-hit villages of Mummidivaram and I Polavaram mandals in Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district present a trail of destruction, even as villagers started returning to pick up the pieces.Most of them found their belongings missing, washed away by floodwaters, and damaged walls of houses.
Several of them have incurred losses as the nature’s fury did not spare their agriculture fields either. Locals blamed the lack of revetments at the Gowthami Godavari canal for the flooding of several Konaseema villages.
Saladi Venkateswara Rao of Kamini village pointed out that Godavari has a revetment at Rajamahendravaram, Kotipalli and Yanam, so the floods spared the residents there. "But Lanka villages have no revetments to stop the water from entering the villages," he added.
For the first time after 1986, over 25 lakh cusecs of water was released from the Dowleswaram barrage, submerging 52 villages in 18 of the 22 mandals in Konaseema. Over 15,000 people were shifted to 53 relief centres, where they had spent the past 10 days.
"After the alert was issued, we locked the house and left for our relatives' place. Water reached up to five feet in the house. We returned to see that the walls had caved in and even our utensils were washed away," Saladi Yesubabu of Saladivaripalem said.
Kasi Subba Rao, another resident of Kamini village, said he had cultivated sesame on two acres, spending Rs 20,000 per acre. "The floods damaged the entire crop and I lost my investment," he said, adding that he has not been able to find a job since July 12.