KAKINADA/RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Even as the floodwater discharge at Dowleswaram barrage receded, there is no let-up in the woes of thousands of flood-affected in the villages of the twin Godavari districts, Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema, Alluri Sitharama Raju and Eluru districts.
In Konaseema, the flood’s fury caught several people unawares as 52 villages in 20 out of its 22 Mandals were affected. The villagers said there is no food and the government’s help is yet to reach them.“It happened too fast. We thought the government would come to our rescue, but no one has turned up with food. There are no utensils and other essentials to cook. Most importantly, there is no way to light a fire in the flooded house,” Y Rama Rao, a resident of Lankala Gannavaram, rued.
Villagers of Palligudem, Pogakulanka, Jambavanipeta, Muramalla, Yedurlanka, Ramalayampeta of I Polavaram Mandal are still awaiting help from the government.The situation in these villages is expected to improve after four to five days, although the floodwaters are receding upstream of Polavaram. Ramalakshmi from Pogakulanka lamented that she was unable to provide food to her children on time. She said her children were crying for food but she felt helpless.“We are getting food since Saturday, but not on time,” she said.
On the other hand, district Collector Himanshu Shukla said all arrangements are in place for the flood victims. Over 15,000 people were evacuated from the villages to around 25 rehabilitation centres arranged in 18 Mandals of the district. Shukla urged the people to inform the control room, if they are stranded so that they could be rescued and shifted to relief centres.
Meanwhile, in Alluri Sitaramaraju district, 125 villages were worst affected and 165 villages were inundated. As many as 50,000 people were shifted to 101 rehabilitation centres. Many villages, including Mandal headquarters of VR Puram, Kunavaram, Yetapaka, Chintur, Devipatnam, remained marooned.In Eluru, Velerupadu, Kukkunur and villages in Polavaram Mandal were affected. As many as 26 villages were under a sheet of water.
Over 10,000 people were shifted to 18 rehabilitation centres. With huge volumes of floodwater being released downstream of Dowleswaram barrage, revetments of Godavari sub-canals were affected, and some have even developed leakages. Any more increase in flood, might result in submerging of several more villages.
As surplus water flowed on the bridge over the Annampalli Aqueduct, Mummidivaram police barred traffic on it. Home minister Taneti Vanitha, district in-charge Minister Jogi Ramesh, Transport Minister Pinipe Viswaroop, and local MLAs inspected the revetment walls of the aqueduct. To fortify the structure, sandbags were piled on it. Similar strategy was adopted at Kotipalli Mallavaram village in K Gangavaram Mandal.
People of Razole and Patha Injaram villages are having sleepless nights as more leakages were detected at the revetments of Godavari sub-canals.Meanwhile, the third warning signal at Dowleswaram barrage on river Godavari river was still in force as the discharge levels remained above 24 lakh cusecs.
However, the good news is that the intensity of inflows has receded with the water level dropping at Bhadrachalam and Kaleswaram. Flood levels are expected to start decreasing further in a day or two, but the warning signals would be withdrawn only a few days after the flood recedes. As of 9 pm, the flood discharge levels stood at 24.59 lakh as against 25.8 lakh at 8 am Sunday.
As of 5 pm, flood levels at Polavaram project stood at 36.6 metres and the discharge rate was 20.99 lakh cusecs. In Rajamahendravaram, areas near river banks, including Aryapuram, Tummalava, Mulagoyyi , Sitammapeta, Seshasaimetta, due to sewage water and not floodwater because sewage is not released into the river during floods, resulting in inundation of these areas.
People in several localities have complained of such a situation, following which the municipal staff have cleared the sewage water using motor pumps. Following leakage in the irrigation lock at Narasapuram in West Godavari on Sunday, Joint Collector JV Murali rushed to the spot and directed the engineers to plug the leakage immediately. East Godavari district Collector Dr Madhavi Latha said stranded cows in the island villages near Kovvur were rescued and Jain Seva Samithi was entrusted with the responsibility for their care.
Kovvur RDO Malli Babu and fire department personnel rescued nearly 100 cows, the official said. Meanwhile, all buses and lorries were prohibited from plying on the road-cum-rail bridge from Sunday morning. Only two-wheelers, autos and cars were allowed. Ministers Ch Srinivasa Venugopalakrishna and Gudivada Amarnath conducted aerial survey in Polavaram project, Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage and Konaseema areas to assess the flood position.