VIJAYAWADA: People travelling in buses of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation were stranded at Itavaram for hours together on Thursday evening as floodwater from the River Munneru inundated NH-65 between Vijayawada and Hyderabad.
Initially, police tried to regulate traffic on one side of the four-way highway, but had to suspend the movement of vehicles completely as both the roads were submerged.“Officials say the water level might increase further and hence they are not allowing vehicles to move forward or backwards. Now, we are stuck in the bus,” a passenger travelling to Hyderabad from Vijayawada rued.
Several others travelling in buses described the experience as hellish. “We are stranded in an isolated place. We don’t even know where to get water from,” another passenger heading to Jaggayyapeta from Vijayawada lamented.
Some of the smaller vehicles were diverted to Madira in Telangana and from there to Vijayawada. A bus driver explained that heavier vehicles cannot do the same as they are not allowed to take that route. Further, the narrow road would only add to their woes, he added.
APSRTC vice-chairman and managing director Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao told TNIE that they are closely monitoring the situation and directed officials concerned at various depots to take a decision as they see fit, giving top priority to the safety of the passengers.
He added that buses travelling to Hyderabad from Vijayawada have been diverted via Vijayawada -Guntur - Puduguralla -Miryalagudem - Nalgonda -Narketpally -Hyderabad and vice-versa. Munneru, a tributary of the River Krishna, is in spate following heavy rains in the upper catchment areas of Telangana. With the sudden increase in inflows to Munneru, 14 shepherds and 1,000 sheep were stranded at Munugodu island in Chandarlapadu Mandal, NTR district.
Meanwhile, Prakasam Barrage received heavy inflows due to the flooding of Munneru. At 8 pm, 25 gates were lifted by 4 feet and 45 gates by 3 feet to release surplus water at the rate of 1,58,125 cusecs.
Authorities of NTR, Krishna, Guntur and Bapatla are closely monitoring the situation and have alerted people living in low-lying areas on both sides of the barrage.
108 ambulance safely crosses bridge
Police allowed a 108 ambulance to safely cross the Lingala Bridge over the swelling Munneru near Penuganchiprolu in the NTR district so that Kolaganti Babu Rao, a native of Vatsavai village, could be taken to a hospital in Jaggayapeta for dialysis.